Ukraine’s official Twitter account has apologised to Japan for a video bearing the image of late emperor Hirohito, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and Italy’s Benito Mussolini—which swore that ‘fascism would again be defeated’—after Japanese citizens called the tweet unfair, historically inaccurate and misleading.

The nearly one-and-a-half-minute video, initially posted on April 1 and pinned to the top of @Ukraine’s Twitter feed, included Hirohito as the still-defending European nation swore it would defeat its Russian invaders.

The words “Fascism and Nazism were defeated in 1945,” appeared on the video at the 1:11 mark followed by a promise to conquer “ruscism, here and now”.

However, on discovering the conflation of Hirohito, Hitler and Mussolini, Japanese Twitter users, while commiserating with the Ukrainian struggle, were quick to demand @Ukraine explain and retract its misleading information.

Historical records show that Emperor Hirohito was a devout pacifist and strongly against Japan’s imperialist expansion into China and Southeast Asia during the Second World War.

Scholars still debate whether Hirohito bore any direct responsibility for Japan’s actions, however, post-war theorists claim that the late head of state was instrumental in fast-tracking its surrender to the Allies in August 1945.

The video even caught the attention of Japanese Foreign Affairs Minister Sato Masahisa, who announced that he also requested the European Affairs Bureau to take immediate action.

The Twitter video was later deleted, re-uploaded on April 24 with the images of only Hitler and Mussolini, and a caption by @Ukraine which read: “Our sincere apologies for making a mistake in the previous version of the video. We had no intention to offend the friendly people of Japan. In the new video above we have corrected the mistake.”

WATCH:

we will fight ruscism, here and now
✊🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/V92TT6K7LV

— Ukraine / Україна (@Ukraine) April 24, 2022

Under President Vladimir Putin, Russia launched what it called “special military operations” in Ukraine on February 24.

Russian Ambassador to Jamaica Sergey Petrovich told Our Today in an exclusive interview in March that his homeland’s two-month offensive was spurred by Ukraine’s ambitions to become a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the ever-closer encroachment of the US-led alliance on Russia’s borders.

• READ: Russia just wants a ‘neutral and friendly’ Ukraine, says envoy to Jamaica