Zelenskiy brushes off Biden’s Putin gaffe as he arrives at Shannon Airport

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has brushed off US president Joe Biden’s “Putin gaffe” on arrival at Shannon Airport on Saturday.

Mr Zelenskiy is in Ireland for a bilateral meeting with Taoiseach Simon Harris on his way back to Ukraine after meeting with Nato leaders in the US.

At the final press conference of the Nato summit, Mr Biden made headlines around the world on Thursday after appearing to confuse Mr Zelenskiy with Russian resident Vladimir Putin.

On Saturday, when arriving at Shannon just after midday, Mr Zelenskiy briefly spoke to reporters before his meeting with Mr Harris.

Asked what was his reaction to Mr Biden calling him “president Putin” by mistake, Mr Zelenskiy said: “It’s a mistake. I think the United States gave a lot of support for Ukrainians. We can forget some mistakes, I think so.”

Mr Zelenskiy signed the visitor’s book at Shannon Airport and posed for photographs with Mr Harris. Ukrainian ambassador to Ireland Larysa Gerasko was also present.

Asked what was his message to the people of Ireland, Mr Zelenskiy said: “First of all, thank you so much for your support, thanks to Ireland for hosting a lot of Ukrainian refugees, you were with us from the very beginning of the Russian invasion.”

While discussing the future of the conflict during the bilateral, Mr Harris expressed his condolences for the citizens whom Ukraine has lost in the war including the bombing of Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital earlier this week.

He also expressed Ireland’s full support for Ukraine’s bid towards EU membership.

Mr Harris, who became Taoiseach in April, offered further Irish assistance for thousands of Ukrainian children forcibly relocated to Russia and Belarus and entered into Russian re-education programmes since the war began.

He confirmed Ireland’s membership of an international coalition for the return of the estimated 20,000 children.

Mr Harris and Mr Zelenskiy previously held a short meeting on the fringes of the Ukraine Peace Summit in Switzerland last month. Since 2020, Ireland has provided €250 million in non-lethal military assistance to Ukraine under the European Peace Facility.

More than 108,000 Ukrainian refugees have also come to live in the State since the outbreak of the war. – Additional reporting by PA