Zelensky says he can “forget” Biden mistaking him for Putin because of “great support” from the US

13 Jul. () –

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday called for “forgetting” the mistake made by US President Joe Biden, who confused him with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday during last week’s NATO summit in New York.

“It’s a mistake. I think the United States has been very supportive of us Ukrainians. We can forget some mistakes, I think so,” Zelensky told reporters at Shannon Airport outside Limmerick, Ireland, where he landed on Saturday on his way back from Washington.

Zelensky met with Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris and thanked Dublin for its support for kyiv. “First of all, thank you very much for your support, thank you Ireland for hosting so many Ukrainian refugees. You have been with us from the very beginning of the Russian invasion,” he said.

Following the meeting, Harris said she had accepted an official invitation to visit kyiv and said she hoped to travel to Ukraine “in the coming weeks.”

The Irish official said he was moved by Zelensky’s report that the government has a bomb shelter programme in place to prepare for the start of the school year in September. He also expressed his “outrage” at the transfer of Ukrainian minors to Russia.

“I think the world does not know enough about this. Russia is stealing children from Ukraine. It is taking babies and small children from their parents’ arms and taking them to the temporarily occupied territories or to Russia,” he said.

More than 108,000 Ukrainian refugees have come to live in Ireland since the start of the war, and Harris stressed that Zelensky is “fully aware of this.” “Zelensky has acknowledged the support and generosity of the Irish people and the Irish Government in terms of helping the people of Ukraine,” she added.