Joe Biden's Ukraine gaffe reignites age concerns as election nears

Joe Biden recently visited France. During a statement to the media, he made a gaffe noted by the American "Newsweek." The US President incorrectly referred to Ukraine using the name "Iraq." Unfortunately, this type of mistake has happened to him before.

At the end of his visit to France, US President Joe Biden visited the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, where American soldiers who fought in the Battle of Belleau Wood during World War I are buried. During his remarks to journalists, he spoke about the issue of aid for Ukraine in relation to the war started by Russia.

"The idea that we’d become semi-isolationist now, which some are talking about. I mean, the idea we had to wait all those months just to get the money for Iraq because we were waiting. I mean, it’s just — it’s not who we are. It’s not who America is," Biden said.

According to the transcript of the President's words provided by the White House, Biden initially mentioned "Iraq," but his words were later corrected to "Ukraine"- reports American "Newsweek," noting that this is not the first time Biden has incorrectly used the word "Iraq" in his speeches.

In June 2023, Biden said: "Think about this: If anybody told you -- and my staff wasn't so sure, either -- that we'd be able to bring all of Europe together in the onslaught on Iraq and get NATO to be completely united, I think they would have told you it's not likely." He added: "The one thing Putin counted on was being able to split NATO."

Also, in June of the previous year, the American president conveyed that Putin is "clearly losing the war in Iraq, losing the war at home. And he has become a bit of a pariah around the world."

As "Newsweek" points out, Biden's repeated mistakes come in the face of ongoing concerns - mainly from Republicans - regarding his age and re-election bid in the upcoming presidential elections.

Meanwhile, over the weekend, the latest Yahoo News/YouGov poll was published, in which Joe Biden took the lead in the presidential race for the first time in several months. In previous surveys, Trump consistently led or tied with Biden, but now support for Trump stands at 44 percent. Biden was favoured by 46 percent of respondents, the highest result since August 2023.

According to analysts, this is closely related to Trump's first lost court case.