President Joe Biden accidentally referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “President Putin” on stage Thursday at a NATO conference.
“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 Putin.”
Biden began to walk offstage before realizing his gaffe and walked back to say Zelenskyy is “gonna beat President Putin.”
Ukraine has been at war with Russia following Putin’s invasion of the country in 2022.
Zelenskyy appeared to take Biden’s misspeaking in stride, saying, “I’m better” than Putin.
“You’re a hell of a lot better,” Biden responded.
The flub comes at a critical time for Biden as he faces mounting criticism over his age and mental fitness following a disastrous debate performance last month against his likely Republican rival, former President Donald Trump. A growing number of Democrats are urging him to reconsider his reelection campaign.