Harris's comments on Ukraine shared out of context

"Kamala Harris extensive knowledge on Geo-Politics is comparable to a mentally challenged hippopotamus," says a July 22, 2024 post on X. "Just imagine her as President."

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Screenshot from X taken July 22, 2024

The post comes from a conspiratorial account called "Concerned Citizen," which AFP has repeatedly fact-checked for spreading online disinformation. It shows an 18-second snippet from the July 10 episode of Fox News host Sean Hannity's TV show, in which the conservative personality spotlighted Harris's comments on Ukraine as one of her "strangest moments."

"So, Ukraine is a country in Europe," Harris says in the clip. "It exists next to another country called Russia. Russia is a bigger country. Russia is a powerful country. Russia decided to invade a smaller country called Ukraine. So, basically, that's wrong."

Similar posts amplifying the video spread across X after Biden announced July 21 that he was exiting the 2024 race against Donald Trump. The president, plagued by concerns over his age and facing mounting calls to drop out after a disastrous debate performance, endorsed Harris for the Democratic nomination.

"Seriously? This is the new nominee?" says one post sharing the clip.

Another adds: "Zelensky is probably crying right now," referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

But the posts are missing context.

Harris made the comments during a phone interview with "The Morning Hustle" radio program on March 1, 2022 -- less than a week after Russia invaded Ukraine (archived here).

A host mentioned Ukraine and asked Harris to "break it down in layman's terms for people who don't understand what's going on and how this can directly affect the people of the United States."

The vice president, who had met with Zelensky days before the invasion, replied with the comments in the video and added that Russia's offensive "goes against everything that we stand for."

She then explained the concept of sovereignty, saying the United States opposes Russia's decision to go "into Ukraine militarily, unprovoked, with no justification other than to exercise its power to take over another country."

She also mentioned sanctions, defining them as "having Russia pay a financial cost to the point that we can have a real impact, put a real hurt on their economy, as a consequence for their bad behavior, which is resulting in the loss of innocent lives."

Harris has discussed Ukraine in more detail throughout her vice presidency, including during several meetings with Zelensky (archived here).

In June 15 remarks ahead of a meeting with the Ukrainian leader, for example, Harris reaffirmed US support for the war-torn nation while discussing assistance and recent developments on the ground, including Russia's aggression near Kharkiv and attacks on Ukraine's energy system (archived here).

AFP has fact-checked other misinformation about the 2024 election here.