​Did CNN just annex Ukraine for Russia?

18 Feb, 2015 06:36 / Updated 10 years ago

Either CNN has inside information on a sinister Kremlin plan to occupy all of Ukraine or it made yet another blunder. In a new report on challenges facing Europe the news channel apparently marked the Eastern European nation as part of Russia.

The report detailed three major crises that European leaders are facing: the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) terrorist group expansion into Libya, the Greek debt debacle, and what CNN Newsroom anchor John Vause called “Russia’s invasion of eastern Ukraine.”

Illustrating his words is a map of Ukraine and its neighbors. On the chart, Ukraine and Russia are marked by the same color, with the Russian flag flying prominently over Ukraine under a title reading: “Diplomatic & military crisis.”

READ MORE: Graphic content: CNN’s top 10 embarrassing blunders

CNN is no stranger to making awkward mistakes in its coverage of the Ukrainian crisis. Last week it labeled the Ukrainian Army and National Guard as “pro-US troops” in a report on the possibility of Washington providing lethal arms to Kiev. The channel has since apologized for the blunder, which some critics labeled a Freudian slip of the tongue.

On previous occasions the US-based news channel took liberties about Ukraine’s geography. Once it shifted the entire country all the way to Pakistan. On another occasion it mistakenly showed the city of Slavyansk, eastern Ukraine, as being located in Crimea.