No, Kari Lake, what is going on at the border isn't remotely like what is going on in Ukraine

Gov. Doug Ducey, like most red-blooded American leaders, issued a statement condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Arizona stands with the people of Ukraine,” he said. “Their cause is our cause. We join our nation and the free world in condemning the unprovoked act of aggression against them, and we are praying for every innocent life and a swift resolution to this conflict.”

Meanwhile, ex-President Donald Trump’s choice to replace Ducey had a rather different take.

“Joe Biden abandoned Arizona and focused on Ukraine,” Kari Lake, the one-time Republican frontrunner in the race, tweeted. “Now, both are being invaded.”

Well, at least, she didn’t praise Putin’s war as a “genius” move.

Fortunately, not all Republican candidates seeking to lead us have such a limited view of the world.

"I'm incredibly dismayed by what is happening in Ukraine, whose soldiers have fought alongside America's own men and women in combat," said Matt Salmon, who also is running for governor. "I am praying for those on the ground that their fight against Russian aggression ends successfully and swiftly."

Karrin Taylor Robson, the other major GOP candidate for governor, and Democrat Katie Hobbs have thus far been silent, which might have been a good strategy for Lake.

The fact that Lake could compare what is going on at the U.S.-Mexico border with what is going on in Ukraine is astonishing though, sadly, not surprising.

That's a border 'invasion.' Ukraine had a real one

In her view, immigrants in search of asylum are apparently the same as a psycho in search of conquest.

Drugs that are and have always flowed across our southern border in search of an eager supply of U.S. customers are apparently the same as tanks rumbling across Ukraine’s border in search of domination and conquest.

Republican candidates in Arizona have taken to using the word “invasion” a lot over the last few months. I’m guessing some political operative did a focus group and found it was a winner given voters' frustration Biden’s inability to control the border.

Attorney General Mark Brnovich, in his zeal to rise above the pack in his run for the Senate, even issued a legal opinion earlier this month, declaring that Ducey can send troops to the border to repel the “invasion.”

Today, however, we are seeing what a wholesale, full-scale invasion looks like: Russian troops attacking a neighboring country by land, sea and air, with missiles and tanks, all in an effort to crush a democratically elected government and bring down a new iron curtain the likes of which we have not seen in decades.

All to satisfy the monstrous ego of a monstrous tyrant.

This, Kari Lake, is what an invasion looks like.

To compare that in any way with what’s going on the U.S.-Mexico border?

Well, you just look silly.

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LaurieRoberts.

Support local journalism: Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kari Lake thinks our border is like Ukraine? That's nuts