US President Joe Biden, no stranger to media gaffes, appeared to confuse Ukraine with another country yet again in his first State of the Union address on March 2.
Speaking from the US Capitol, the 79-year-old said, “Putin may circle Kyiv with tanks, but will never gain the hearts and souls of the Iranian people.”
“He will never extinguish their love of freedom and he will never weaken the resolve of the free world,” Biden said as he went on with his speech completely unaware of what he had just said.
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Vice President Kamala Harris, who was seated behind the President, appeared to mouth “Ukrainian,” as Biden continued his speech, and the moment was captured on camera.
As clips of President Biden’s gaffe were circulated, the internet had a field day.
The gaffe comes a day after Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is in the besieged capital city of Kyiv with Ukrainian forces, sent a message to President Biden through a CNN interview.
“It’s very serious. I’m not in a movie. I’m not iconic, I think Ukraine is iconic. Ukraine is the heart of Europe, and now I think Europe sees Ukraine is something special for this world. That’s why [the] world can’t lose this something special.”
Ukraine bears the full brunt of a Russian invasion, and its capital, Kyiv, lies besieged.
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This is not the first time that Biden has confused Ukraine with other countries.
A couple of weeks earlier, in an interview with NBC, the President had said, “There was no way we were ever going to unite Ukraine. I mean Iraq…Afghanistan.”
Back then, Biden had come under fire for the gaffe, with many critics suggesting that the President had become senile or had dementia.