Biden Appears to Flub Zelenskyy’s Name at NATO Summit

President Joe Biden on Wednesday appeared to flub Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s name during his address at the NATO summit in Lithuania, instead referring to him as “Vladimir,” reports Sky News.

“Vladimir and I … we, the … I shouldn’t be so familiar. Mr. Zelenskyy and I talked about the kind of guarantees we could make in the meantime when I was in Ukraine and when we met in other places,” Biden said. “And so, today, the long-term commitments are backed up by the notion that in the meantime we’re going to provide security to Ukraine for its needs and against any aggression that may occur.”

A White House readout of Biden’s comments reads differently: “Volodymyr and I, we — the — I shouldn’t be so familiar — Mr. Zelenskyy and I talked about the kind of guarantees we could make in the meantime when I was in Ukraine and when we met in other places.”

Biden, who has a speech impediment, has had dozens of public slip-ups over the years, which his political rivals have seized upon as a sign of mental incompetence.

Just last month, the president muddled up the ongoing war in Ukraine for the Iraq War, telling reporters that Russian President Vladimir Putin was “clearly losing the war in Iraq” when asked about Wagner Group Yevgeny Prigozhin’s rebellion in Moscow.

“It’s hard to tell, but [Putin’s] clearly losing the war in Iraq, losing the war at home. And he has become a bit of a pariah around the world,” he said.

Earlier that month at a summit in Connecticut, Biden closed out a speech on gun control with the proclamation: “God save the Queen, man.”