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Video: Gaffe-prone Joe Biden calls Ukraine president 'Vladimir' at NATO
Joe Biden corrected himself and said, "Mr. Zelensky and I," before continuing.
US president Joe Biden mistakenly referred to his Ukrainian counterpart Zelensky as “Vladimir” during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit. "Vladimir and I...I shouldn't be so familiar," Joe Biden said during a press conference in Vilnius. He corrected himself and said, "Mr. Zelensky and I," before continuing.
Piers Morgan pointed out Joe Biden's error on Twitter while posting the video. A twitter user called it "simply unbelievable" while another responded, “This old man must just take a rest now.”
Some also noted the Volodymyr/Vladimir similarity, empathizing with Joe Biden that it was an easy mistake to make. One user commented, “Same name, different spelling. Pay attention.”
During the summit, Joe Biden met with Turkey's president Erdogan prior to the bilateral meeting as he congratulated him on the agreement reached with NATO with respect to Sweden while France and UK announced more support to Ukraine military.
Joe Biden has been prone to gaffes during his presidency, previously mistaking Ukrainians for Iranians. He also asked if a lawmaker who had died was present during a White House conference while his NATO mispronunciation moment was widely shared on social media.
Joe Biden also jabbed his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin calling him "craven" while promising Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky full support even without membership in NATO.
"It didn't happen by accident. It wasn't inevitable," Joe Biden said, adding, "When Putin, and his craven lust for land and power, unleashed his brutal war on Ukraine, he was betting NATO would break apart... He thought our unity would shatter at the first testing. He thought democratic leaders would be weak. But he thought wrong."
