President Biden caused quite a stir on Thursday evening when he mistakenly introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin” — confusing him with the Russian leader who has been waging war against Ukraine for the past two-and-a-half years.
“And now I want to hand it over to the president of Ukraine, who has as much courage as he has determination,” Biden said. “Ladies and gentlemen, President [Vladimir] Putin.”
The audience reacted with audible gasps and discomfort as Biden made the blunder. Someone in the crowd attempted to correct him by shouting, “Zelensky!”
World leaders on stage appeared hesitant, unsure whether to clap for Zelensky or wait for Biden to fix his mistake.
The US president quickly apologized for the embarrassing error, attributing it to his intense focus on defeating the Russian autocrat.
“President Putin? We’re going to beat President Putin – President Zelensky. I’m so focused on beating Putin, we got to worry about it,” Biden said. “Anyway, Mr. President.”
Zelensky, 46, frowned and shook his head before jokingly saying, “I’m better.”
“You are a hell of a lot better,” Biden responded.
The mishap took place as Biden and leaders from 19 other nations were gathered to announce the signing of the Ukraine Compact, a new security agreement between Kyiv and the US, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
Biden had nearly completed his speech announcing the compact without any significant mistakes, relying on teleprompters throughout.
The gaffe is likely to increase pressure from congressional Democrats for the 81-year-old president to end his campaign for a second term.
Zelensky shrugged off the mistake, taking the podium to commend the group for establishing the compact, which serves as a small consolation after Ukraine was not given a formal invitation to join the 32-country alliance at the three-day summit.
Instead, the document vaguely pledged the signatories to “support Ukraine’s immediate defense and security needs,” with limited specifics.
For instance, in the event of another Russian attack on Ukraine after the current war, the compact states its members will “convene swiftly and collectively at the most senior levels to determine appropriate next steps in supporting Ukraine as it exercises its right of self-defense as enshrined in Article 51 of the UN Charter, including the provision of swift and sustained security assistance and the imposition of economic and other costs on Russia.”
The compact also promises to continue the US-initiated Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which meets monthly to coordinate international arms shipments to Kyiv and discuss its needs.
Although the project was spearheaded by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, NATO has been trying to shift the working group’s responsibility to the rest of the alliance – likely to ensure the initiative persists should Biden lose in November, insiders have told The Post.