In his latest gaffe, one of many just this year, President Joe Biden referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “Vladimir” — which, in fact, is the first name of Zelenskyy’s wartime opponent, Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The president committed the offense while speaking Wednesday at a NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania about the prospect of Ukraine joining the international alliance.

“We’re not waiting for that process to be finished to make the long-term commitments that we’re making to Ukraine’s security. Vladimir and I, we — 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,” he said.

Listen:

Zelenskyy for his part did not seem to notice or care about the offense, probably because technically, Volodymyr and Vladimir are variations of the same name.

Indeed, some social media users noted that Zelenskyy sometimes even refers to himself as Vladimir.

Case in point:

That’s literally his first name. Voldymyr is the Ukrainian way of saying Vladimir which is the Russian

— Carlos Medina (@CMedina240) July 13, 2023

Volodymyr and Vladimir aren’t that different really tho are they. Obviously it’s not ideal but some people mistakenly said osama for Obama too

— David Toon (@davietoon) July 12, 2023

@piersmorgan Verdict is in… pic.twitter.com/ElmwQDg5nt

— ben oconnor (@benoconnormusic) July 13, 2023

Others were not as forgiving, especially given the president’s numerous other gaffes.

Recall that during his 2022 State of the Union address, the president referred to Ukrainians as “Iranians.”

“Putin may circle Kyiv with tanks, but he will never gain the hearts and souls of the Iranian people,” he said.

Similarly, last month the president twice confused Ukraine with Iraq. In one instance, he told White House reporters that Putin’s “clearly losing the war in Iraq.”

In another instance, he said, “Think about this. If anybody told you — and my staff wasn’t so sure either — that we’d be able to bring all of Europe together in the onslaught on Iraq and get NATO to be completely united, I think they would have told you it’s not likely.”

Combined with his other gaffes, the latest was the final straw for some critics:

You called him Vladimir!!!!!!! Good god resign already!!!

— Fb88 (@Fb88Bill69) July 13, 2023

Look at the senile @POTUS with “Vladimir”Zelensky ! His mind is gone and there are still people supporting him and trusting him to keep our country secure! Mind boggling!

— Mercedes Schmidt (@nowhere987) July 13, 2023

Surely America should protect their President and just admit he needs to retire…it’s embarrassing and surely all Americans both Republicans and Democrats would be big enough to accept father time has no political gain.

— Ian (@whitehobo_inc) July 12, 2023

All this comes just a day after the president made headlines for calling a lid on a NATO dinner Tuesday, with his aides citing his ostensibly busy schedule.

As other world leaders gathered together for dinner Tuesday night in Lithuania, the location of the latest NATO summit, the president instead returned to his hotel room while Secretary of State Antony Blinken took his place.

Asked by reporters why he skipped the dinner, an unnamed official “said the president has had four full days of official business and is preparing for a big speech tomorrow in addition to another day at the summit,” as reported by Beth Rigby of Sky News.

Critics were stunned by the “snub” given as it was only days ago that a bare-chested Biden was spotted hitting the beach in swim trunks and living the easy life while vacationing in Rehoboth Beach, Deleware.

All this also comes amid tension between Biden and Zelenskyy.

“Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tore into NATO leaders including President Biden on Tuesday for not extending membership to his war-torn country — introducing fresh diplomatic drama into the annual gathering of the military alliance’s leaders,” according to the New York Post.

“Zelensky slammed the reticence as ‘weakness’ and ‘absurd’ just moments after Biden referred to the development of new language regarding his country’s potential NATO ascension,” according to the Post.

He offered the slam via Twitter.

“Now, on the way to Vilnius, we received signals that certain wording is being discussed without Ukraine. And I would like to emphasize that this wording is about the invitation to become NATO member, not about Ukraine’s membership,” he tweeted.

“It’s unprecedented and absurd when time frame is not set neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine’s membership. While at the same time vague wording about ‘conditions’ is added even for inviting Ukraine. It seems there is no readiness neither to invite Ukraine to NATO nor to make it a member of the Alliance,” he added.

We value our allies. We value our shared security. And we always appreciate an open conversation.
Ukraine will be represented at the NATO summit in Vilnius. Because it is about respect.

But Ukraine also deserves respect. Now, on the way to Vilnius, we received signals that…

— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 11, 2023

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Vivek Saxena

Senior Staff Writer
Vivek@bizpacreview.com

V. Saxena is a staff writer for BizPac Review with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University.

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