'Ukraine is a country in Europe…': Kamala explains Putin's invasion in 'laymen's terms'


Vice President Kamala Harris laid out the Ukrainian invasion in simple terms on Tuesday, starting with: ‘Ukraine is a country in Europe. It exists next to another country called Russia.’ 

Appearing on The Morning Hustle, the vice president was asked to ‘break it down in laymen’s terms for people who don’t understand what’s going on and how can this directly affect the people of the United States.’ 

Harris broke it down: ‘Russia is a bigger country. Russia is a powerful country. Russia decided to invade a smaller country called Ukraine so basically that’s wrong.’  

‘It goes against everything that we stand for there are terms that we use we say we respect the sovereignty the territorial integrity of countries, right? their independence. Russia has gone into Ukraine militarily unprovoked, with no justification other than to exercise its power to take over another country.’ 

Sen. Ted Cruz posted a math equation meme mocking Harris’ response on Twitter.  

Harris was then asked about the differing viewpoints between herself and Biden on sanctions. 

‘No one expected the sanctions to prevent anything from happening,’ Biden last Thursday. 

‘The purpose of the sanctions has always been and continues to be deterrence,’ Harris said on Sunday. 

‘Some people did question those sanctions because they said that you had a conflicting opinion against President Joe Biden?’ the Morning Hustle host asked. 

‘We had sanctions before the actual invasion, we threatened sanctions to hopefully deter Russia from going in,’ the vice president responded. 

She compared the strategy of deterrence to disciplining a bad child. 

‘So you know if you’re a parent and you tell your children to do this the punishment is gonna be that right? And we hope that by doing that it will deter our children from doing the wrong thing, right? So that’s deterrence, so that’s where we started with the sanctions. And when Russia actually went in we are implementing the sanctions.’

Harris has had a front-and-center seat to the White House’s handling of Vladimir Putin’s invasion, ten days ago flying to Germany for the Munich Security Conference with world leaders to discuss their response if Putin were to invade. 

A blast is seen in the TV tower, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 1

A blast is seen in the TV tower, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 1

Smoke billows from the TV tower, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 1

Smoke billows from the TV tower, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 1

In her interview with Morning Hustle, she failed to mention that Putin believed that Ukraine had no right to sovereignty, and that as a former KGB operative he for years has publicly mourned the fall of the Soviet Union. 

‘Modern Ukraine was entirely and fully created by Russia,’ Putin said in a rambling address last Monday. 

Ukraine was a part of Russia until 1991, when the Ukrainian people voted to leave the Soviet Union and become independent. Putin in 2014 sent in forces to take over Crimea, which was formerly part of Ukraine.  

According to a NewsNation poll, 58% of Americans are not confident in Harris’ ability to take over as president if needed. 

Some observers were not impressed by a ‘word salad’ news briefing she gave last week after her trip to Munich. 

An armed man stands by the remains of a Russian military vehicle in Bucha, close to the capital Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 1

An armed man stands by the remains of a Russian military vehicle in Bucha, close to the capital Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 1

Emergency crews respond after a missile landed near Kyiv's TV Tower in Ukrainian capital, Kyiv on March

Emergency crews respond after a missile landed near Kyiv’s TV Tower in Ukrainian capital, Kyiv on March

‘I mean, listen guys, we are talking about the potential for war in Europe,’ Harris said at the time. ‘I mean, let’s really take a moment to understand the significance of what we’re talking about.’ 

She continued: ‘So our position is for us very clear, which is as a leader as we have been bringing together with allies, working together on our collective and unified position, that we would all not just prefer, we desire, we believe, it is in the best interest of all that there is a diplomatic end to this moment.’

One Biden official told the Washington Post that Harris was sent to the Munich conference to bolster her foreign policy credentials and she was not coordinating with Sec. of State Antony Blinken on the trip. 

‘The vice president and Secretary Blinken have talked to each other here, but they’re pursuing separate schedules and their teams are not closely coordinated,’ said the official. ‘You could argue it’s a divide-and-conquer strategy, but that’s far-fetched. The Harris stop is about burnishing her political credentials as a leader in the middle of a crisis.’ 

Leave a Reply