President Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed his US counterpart Joe Biden’s introduction of him as “President Putin” earlier this week as a “mistake”.
Biden made the gaffe during his speech on the final day of the NATO summit on July 11, as questions continue to emerge about his suitability for the job.
“And now I want to turn the call over to the president of Ukraine, who has both courage and determination. Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin,” Biden said.
On July 13, during a press conference during a brief visit to Ireland, Zelensky downplayed the incident.
“It’s a mistake. I think the United States gave a lot of support to the Ukrainians. We can forget some mistakes, I think so,” he said in comments reported by Reuters.
After making the mistake, Biden quickly corrected himself.
“President Putin? I’m very focused on defeating Putin,” Biden said.
In response at the time, Zelensky joked that “I’m better,” to which Biden replied “you’re much better.”
On July 13, in Ireland, Prime Minister Simon Harris said he would visit kyiv “in the coming weeks,” welcoming Zelensky to his country.
Zelensky is travelling back to Ukraine from the NATO summit in Washington and flew via Shannon Airport, where the two leaders met.
Speaking at a news conference, Harris said they had had “a very good meeting” and discussed a possible bilateral agreement on demining, energy, humanitarian assistance and food security.
“I thank Ireland for supporting the Peace Summit in Switzerland and the Taoiseach for his strong personal attention and commitment to efforts to bring children home,” Zelensky said in a social media post after the meeting.
Ukraine and its soldiers weigh whether Biden should step aside
Editor’s note: In accordance with Ukrainian military security protocols, soldiers in this story are identified only by their first names. As calls grow for U.S. President Joe Biden to step aside in the upcoming presidential election among Democratic Party allies in Washington, Ukraine is facing a growing number of threats against the country’s military.
