- On its homepage Friday afternoon, Bloomberg published the headline: "Russia Invades Ukraine."
- Russia hadn't in fact invaded Ukraine.
- Bloomberg said the headline was "inadvertently published" and apologized.
Bloomberg has apologized for publishing a headline stating that Russia had invaded Ukraine.
On Friday afternoon, a headline appeared at the top of the Bloomberg homepage that said: "Live: Russia Invades Ukraine."
Bloomberg said later on Friday: "We prepare headlines for many scenarios and the headline 'Russia Invades Ukraine' was inadvertently published around 4 p.m. ET today on our website. We deeply regret the error. The headline has been removed and we are investigating the cause."
Olga Lautman, a Kremlin analyst who spotted the error, told the New York Post: "I went on the site and saw the breaking news but knew it wasn't real because I deal with Ukraine and will be one of the first to know. It is bizarre and a pretty big mistake to make considering this is a potential large scale invasion and everyone is on edge."
Lautman posted an image of the headline on Twitter.
—Olga Lautman (@OlgaNYC1211) February 4, 2022
In a follow-up tweet, she said that when she clicked on the headline, she was taken to an error page. She told The Post that the headline stayed up for about 30 minutes.
Bloomberg's lapse came amid extreme tension between Russia and the West over fears that Russia will invade its neighbor and spark a conflict that could consume Europe.
Russia has denied having plans to invade, but with tens of thousands of troops deployed near the Ukraine border, the US believes an attack could come at any time and on "short notice."