Shannon, Ireland:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his US counterpart Joe Biden accidentally referring to him as Russian President Vladimir Putin was a mistake that could be forgotten about given all the support the US has provided to Ukraine.

Biden mistakenly referred to Zelensky as Putin at a NATO summit in Washington on Thursday before correcting himself two seconds later.

“It’s a mistake. I think the United States gave a lot of support to Ukrainians. We can forget some mistakes, I think so,” Zelensky told reporters on Saturday at Ireland’s Shannon airport where he was meeting Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

In yet another gaffe amid concerns over his re-election bid, US President Joe Biden today mistakenly introduced Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky as his Russian rival Vladimir Putin.

“And now I want to hand it over to the president of Ukraine, who has as much courage as he has determination, ladies and gentlemen, President Putin,” he said, referring to Zelensky while speaking on the sidelines of the NATO Summit in Washington.

Zelensky looked nonplussed, then was seen shaking his head and smiling to himself.

Biden, 81, then quickly corrected himself and said, “President Putin, you’re going to beat President Putin, President Zelensky. I am so focused on beating Putin.”

Zelensky, who had by then recovered from his bafflement, responded by saying, “I am better (than Putin).”

Biden is Blunder King

Watch Zelensky’s reaction when Biden calls him Putin! pic.twitter.com/SlGVFBB9ze

— BALA (@erbmjha) July 12, 2024

“You are a hell of a lot better,” Biden replied before Zelensky began his address.

Shortly afterward, Biden made another blunder when he referred to his deputy, Kamala Harris, as “Vice President” Trump at a high-stakes news conference.

ALSO READ | “Great Job Joe”: Donald Trump Mocks Joe Biden Gaffes

“Look, I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president if she was not qualified to be president. So start there,” he said as he responded to a question from a journalist about his confidence in Indian-origin leader Kamala Harris.

Oh MY GOD.

Now Biden has just referred to Vice president Kamala Harris as VICE PRESIDENT TRUMP.

What the fuck is going on?!

This is actually painful to watch.pic.twitter.com/fHYKtk95BF

— Supertanskiii (@supertanskiii) July 11, 2024

The latest gaffes come amid growing calls for Biden, who is already the oldest person to ever serve as the US president, to step aside.

The calls have grown louder ever since his poor performance against Donald Trump, 78, in a US presidential debate two weeks ago.

Even members of his Democratic Party are concerned about his ability to win the November 5 election.

Washington:

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday he was confident Ukraine would eventually join NATO after the alliance said the Russian-invaded country had an “irreversible” path to membership.

“We have strong wording regarding the irreversibility of Ukraine’s movement towards NATO. Every step truly brings us closer to membership,” Zelensky told a news conference at a NATO summit alongside the alliance’s chief Jens Stoltenberg.

“We are doing and will continue to do everything to ensure that the day comes when Ukraine is invited and becomes a NATO member, and I am confident we will achieve this,” he said.

Zelensky’s reaction was significantly warmer than a year ago at the NATO summit in Lithuania where he was visibly upset that there was not a firmer promise on membership.

NATO, formed in the Cold War, is a collective defense pact in which an attack on one ally is an attack on all.

The United States and Germany have led concerns about quickly bringing Ukraine into NATO, believing it would effectively put them at war with nuclear-armed Russia.

A declaration issued Wednesday at the 75th anniversary NATO summit in Washington said leaders supported Ukraine on “its irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has cited Ukraine’s NATO aspirations as a reason to attack the former Soviet republic, rejecting the idea that the country has a separate historical identity.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

US President Joe Biden will meet his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky at NATO’s 75th anniversary summit in Washington on Thursday to show “unwavering support” for Kyiv, the White House said.

“On Thursday afternoon, President Biden will meet with President Zelensky of Ukraine to discuss our unwavering support for Ukraine as it continues to defend itself from Russian aggression,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told a briefing Tuesday.

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Kyiv:

The UK’s new defence minister pledged on Sunday to deliver more artillery guns, ammunition and missiles to Ukraine, stressing London’s ongoing support for Kyiv during a visit to the southern city of Odesa.

John Healey, appointed defence minister Friday by new British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, was visiting the port city, a frequent target of Russian missile and drone strikes, on his first international trip.

“There may have been a change in government, but the UK is united for Ukraine,” Healey said, according to a statement published by Britain’s defence ministry.

Healey pledged a new package of assistance including artillery guns, 250,000 rounds of ammunition, de-mining vehicles, small military boats, missiles and other equipment, the defence ministry said.

In Odesa, he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Defence Minister Rustem Umerov.

“Our commitment to stand with the Ukrainian people is absolute.”

Traveling to Odesa, Defence Secretary @JohnHealey_MP met with President @ZelenskyyUa to confirm Britain’s steadfast commitment to Ukraine will be reinvigorated by the new UK Government.

https://t.co/8WrIagKcy3pic.twitter.com/XjxMQJqOoh

— Ministry of Defence (@DefenceHQ) July 7, 2024

I met with the newly appointed Secretary of State for Defence of the United Kingdom. We discussed the implementation of the security agreement and the preparation of a future 100-year cooperation agreement between Ukraine and the UK.

Our defense cooperation enables Ukrainian… pic.twitter.com/IPo3Eqbdio

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 7, 2024

London has been one of Kyiv’s staunchest backers since Russia invaded in February 2022. 

Zelensky posted footage showing Healey laying flowers at a memorial to mark Ukraine’s Navy Day.

He said he had briefed Healey and Dutch Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans — who also took up the post last week — on the situation on the battlefield.

In the capital Kyiv over the weekend, the Netherlands’ Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp pledged to begin sending F-16 fighter planes to Ukraine “without delay”.

Britain’s Healey also said a major UK aid package announced in April would be delivered “in full to Ukraine within the next 100 days”.

Kyiv has regularly complained about the late arrival of Western military supplies, which are vital to its outmanned and outgunned forces fighting off the Russian invasion. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Kyiv, Ukraine:

Ukraine and Russia said Saturday that priests were among the dozens of captured soldiers and civilians they had exchanged earlier this week.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said two Ukrainian Greek Catholic priests taken captive in Moscow-occupied Berdiansk were handed back to Ukraine thanks to the mediation of the Vatican.

Meanwhile, Russia said a high-ranking Ukrainian Orthodox cleric was handed over to Moscow along with two other priests.

Churches have been heavily affected by the war, with Kyiv’s Orthodox church breaking ties with Moscow and Ukraine regularly accusing clerics of treason.

Moscow and Kyiv exchanged 90 POWs and some civilians each earlier this week.

Speaking at an event in Kyiv, Zelensky named the two released Ukrainian Greek Catholic priests as Bogdan Geleta and Ivan Levytskyi, and said they had been preaching in Berdiansk.

Bediansk, on the Azov Sea, fell to Russian forces in the first days of their February 2022 invasion. The priests had been held by the Russians since 16 November 2022, Zelensky added.

He said they were freed “thanks to the efforts of our team and the mediation of the Vatican, for which I am especially grateful.”

Pope Francis earlier this year expressed hopes for a “general” prisoner exchange between the two countries.

Metropolitan Ionafan, the Ukrainian Orthodox cleric handed over to Moscow, had been convicted in August 2023 of justifying the Russian invasion and was facing five years in prison.

Moscow’s ombudsman Tatiana Moskalkova said Ionafan was received by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill in Moscow.

She said two other Orthodox priests who had remained with Moscow’s patriarchy when the church split were also handed over to Russia in the course of the exchange.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Kyiv:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday 10 civilians, including a politician and two priests, taken prisoner in Russia and Belarus had been freed in a deal mediated by the Vatican.

Russia and Ukraine have exchanged hundreds of prisoners throughout their two-year conflict, typically in one-for-one swaps, but the release of civilian prisoners is rarer.

“We managed to return 10 more of our people from Russian captivity,” Zelensky said in a post on Telegram. It was not immediately clear if the release was part of an exchange deal involving Russian prisoners held in Ukraine.

Some of those released have been in prison since 2017, he said, arrested in Russian-controlled parts of eastern Ukraine that at the time were run by Moscow-backed separatists.

Russia has since annexed four Ukrainian regions — Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk and Zaporizhzhia — alongside the Crimea peninsula which it seized in 2014.

The list of those freed included Nariman Dzhelal, a senior Crimean Tatar politician and two priests from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

Five of them were originally arrested in Belarus, Russia’s close ally, including on charges of aiding Kyiv’s army by providing information on Russian military movements.

Russia invaded Ukraine through Belarus at the start of the war and although Minsk has not joined Russia’s offensive, the two countries’ militaries are closely linked.

“They have all been released and are now back home in Ukraine,” Zelensky said.

“I would also like to note the Vatican’s efforts to bring these people home,” he added, without elaborating.

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Kyiv:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky replaced a high-ranking army official leading troops in the country’s embattled east on Monday after he was accused of incompetence and abuse of power during the Russian invasion.

The move came as Kyiv has struggled to hold back Moscow’s forces in the east for months, almost two and half years into the war.  

“I have decided to replace the Commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Yuriy Sodol, with Brigadier General Andriy Gnatov,” Zelensky said in his daily evening address.

He gave no details on the reasons for the dismissal but the decision came after criticism from a commander of the Azov brigade, known for its links with the far right.

The Azov commander, Bogdan Krotevych, had a day earlier filed a complaint to the SBU security service, calling for an investigation into Sodol.

According to media reports, Krotevych accused Sodol of incompetence and blamed him for the death of Ukrainian soldiers at the front.

Ukraine — outgunned and outmanned by Russia — has been on the back foot for months, with Moscow’s forces claiming new villages in the east almost every week, but without making a major breakthrough.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) speaks during the 21st Shangri-La Dialogue summit at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore on June 2, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused China on Sunday of working hard to stop countries from going to a peace summit, which Beijing has publicly criticised because Russia is not invited.

Mr. Zelensky made the remarks at a security forum in Singapore as he sought to rally support for the conference and appealed for more military aid for Ukraine, which has been ceding ground to Russian troops.

“China, unfortunately, is working hard today to prevent countries from coming to the peace summit,” Mr. Zelensky told reporters on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, which draws defence officials from around the world.

Beijing believes the conference “should have the recognition of Russia and Ukraine, equal participation of all parties and fair discussion of all peace plans”, foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular news conference on Friday.

“Otherwise, it is difficult for the conference to play a substantive role in restoring peace,” she said.

Mr. Zelensky also expressed disappointment that “some world leaders” had not signed up to the conference, with China signalling Xi Jinping will not attend while U.S. President Joe Biden is yet to commit.

China said it would be “difficult” for it to attend if Russia did not participate, which Ukraine has rejected.

Through the peace summit, Kyiv hopes to win broad international backing for its vision of the terms needed to end Russia’s war.

Mr. Zelensky said on Sunday that more than 100 countries and organisations had signed up to the conference, and he urged Asia-Pacific nations to join.

The peace summit threatens to be overshadowed if key Ukraine backer Mr. Biden – who is locked in an election campaign against Donald Trump and has given no sign he would participate – ultimately stays away.

Mr. Zelensky said China was “a tool in Putin’s hands” and accused Russia of using Chinese influence and diplomats to do “everything to disrupt the peace summit.”

While China says it is a neutral party in the Ukraine conflict, it has been criticised for refusing to condemn Moscow for its offensive.

‘Unwavering U.S. support’

Mr. Zelensky also met with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Sunday on the sidelines of the Singapore security forum. Mr. Zelensky told reporters they had a “very good” meeting.

In a post on X, Mr. Zelensky said the pair discussed “the defence needs of our country, bolstering Ukraine’s air defence system, the F-16 coalition, and drafting of a bilateral security agreement.”

In a readout of the talks, Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder said Austin reiterated “unwavering U.S. support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression”.

Mr. Austin also “reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to maintaining the strong support of a coalition of over fifty countries to help Ukraine defend its freedom,” Mr. Ryder said.

The meeting came after Washington decided to partially lift restrictions on using U.S.-provided weapons to strike inside Russia, which Mr. Zelensky has hailed as a “step forward”.

Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Austin last met face-to-face in December in Washington, where Mr. Zelensky made a last-ditch plea for U.S. aid before it ran out.

The U.S. Congress approved in April a $61-billion aid package for Ukraine following months of political wrangling, unlocking much-needed arms for the country’s outgunned troops.

Chinese defence spokesman Wu Qian told AFP he was not aware of any plans for Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun to meet with Zelensky in Singapore.

Ukraine is struggling to hold back a Russian ground offensive in the Kharkiv region, where Moscow recently made its largest territorial gains in 18 months.

Mr. Zelensky has been touring European nations in recent days seeking more military aid for Ukrainian troops, and warning partners of the risks if they show any signs of fatigue over the war.

“It is very important for Ukrainians that the world does not get tired… that the world understands that it cannot get tired of the war launched by the aggressor,” Mr. Zelensky said in Portugal on Tuesday.

Kyiv:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an interview with AFP on Friday urged China and countries of the Global South to participate in a peace summit in Switzerland next month.

The Swiss government announced that it would host a high-level peace conference for Ukraine in mid-June, but said Russia would not attend.

Uncertainty surrounds the presence of China, which has said “a lot of work” would need to be done before the conference.

Chinese leaders believe that “if Russia loses the war… it is a victory for the United States,” Zelensky said.

“It’s a victory for the West, and they want to find a balance between the two… That’s why I would like to see China involved in the peace summit.”

His comments came as Russian President Vladimir Putin visited China this week for talks in which the leaders framed their nations’ ties as a stabilising force in a chaotic world.

China says it is a neutral party in the Ukraine conflict and has sought to play a mediator role.

But it has been criticised, like other countries particularly in the Global South, for refusing to condemn Moscow’s offensive.

Zelensky made a wider appeal for countries to send delegations to Switzerland.

“If there is no representative of your state, this is a public response that when you say that we all want peace, no, you want Russia to win.”

The Ukrainian president pointed to three issues around which consensus could be found in Switzerland.

The first, he said, was that free navigation in the Black Sea could strengthen global food security by allowing Ukrainian grain exports.

Second, he hoped for an agreement on a call to halt strikes on energy infrastructures.

Third, he advocated for the return to Ukraine of thousands of children deported to Russia, a crime for which the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Putin.

“If we come out of the summit with these three steps with the majority of countries agreeing… it means that Russia will not block them further.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)