During a press conference at the NATO Summit, President Donald Trump mistakenly referred to Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, as “President Putin.” The incident occurred when Trump, aged 80, addressed reporters after a bilateral meeting and asked if they had any questions for President Putin, pointing to Zelensky instead.
This mistake echoed a similar blunder made by former President Joe Biden at the same conference two years prior. Trump’s gaffe was pointed out by several reporters, prompting him to clarify that the questions were intended for President Putin, not Zelensky.
In a bid to recover from the error, Trump requested a question from a Ukrainian reporter for Russia’s president, to which the query was about ending the ongoing war. Trump acknowledged it as a good question and expressed that he had never posed it before.
Additionally, during the summit meeting, Trump announced that the US would allow Ukraine to produce Patriot air defense systems overseas to counter Russian missile attacks. This decision was seen as a significant development for Ukraine, which has been in need of this technology throughout the five-year-long conflict.
Praising Zelensky for his effective leadership in the war, Trump mentioned that Ukraine would be granted the right to manufacture Patriots with US assistance. Zelensky had been advocating for more of these defense systems due to their high demand, cost, and time-consuming manufacturing process.