Hours before a high-profile news conference aimed at allaying concerns about his cognitive health, President Joe Biden baffled the leaders of Ukraine and Russia.
“Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin,” Biden said as he introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a NATO event in Washington on Thursday.
After taking a step away from the podium, the president turned back and corrected himself. “President Putin? He will defeat President Putin! President Zelensky.”
“I’m better [than Putin]Zelensky joked while shaking Biden’s hand.
Stream live and watch Biden’s press conference at NBCNews.com.
Biden has been the world’s leading champion of Ukraine in the bloody two-year war to roll back the Russian invasion led by President Vladimir Putin.
It comes as the embattled president stubbornly tries to convince the public and his own party that he has the mental and physical stamina to become commander-in-chief after a disastrous debate performance and defeat former President Donald Trump in November.
In the two weeks since the debate, Biden has seen several members of his own party call for him to drop out. He insisted he would not step aside and stay fit for the job.
At Biden’s last press conference in February, Biden referred to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as “the president of Mexico” when the president angrily denounced a special counsel report that he called “significantly limited.”