As it happened: Biden mistakes Zelenskyy for Putin and Kamala Harris for Trump in NATO gaffes (2024)

Ukraine once again was attacked by a barrage of missiles and drones overnight.

The air force said itshot down five cruise missiles and 11 out of 19 droneslaunched by Russia.

Moscow's main target was the town of Starokostiantyniv, an important Ukrainian air base and a frequent target of Moscow'sstrikes, the air force said.

It comes as the country continues to reel from a devastating wave of strikes on Monday, while killed 44 people and injured almost 200 more.

Joe Biden - a keen ally of Ukraine - is facing fresh calls to bow out of the presidential race after mistakenly referring to Volodymyr Zelenskyy as "President Putin".

There were gasps from those in the room at the NATO summit in Washington at the first of two major gaffes - the second: referring to Kamala Harris as "Vice President Trump".

Kyiv will be keenly watching what impact this has on the presidential race. The Biden administrations support for Ukraine - both directly and via NATO - has been crucial, while Donald Trump has questioned America's aid.

Indeed, at the news conference, Mr Biden argued Trump would weaken NATO.

The president trailed off before he had completed his thoughts during some answers, while in others, he delivered detailed responses on issues such as the Israel-Gaza conflict and the need for western countries to produce more weaponry.

The Biden campaign has been on the ropes for two weeks, since
his poor debate performance against Trump.

At least 16 of the 213 Democrats in the House and one of the Senate's 51 Democrats have appealed publicly to the president to withdraw from the race.

Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut joined that group
shortly after the press conference ended.

"We must put forth the strongest candidate possible to confront the threat posed by Trump's promised MAGA authoritarianism," he said.

"I no longer believe that is Joe Biden."

The campaign has commissioned a survey to test how Vice President Kamala Harris would fare if she were to replace Biden as candidate, a source with knowledge of the matter told AP.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll last week found Harris would fare no better than Biden in a matchup with Trump.

Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine.

NATO leaders ended their summit in Washington last night, where Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the alliance's "crucial" support for Ukraine will help stop Vladimir Putin's "appetite for aggression".

We'll bring you updates and analysis throughout the day - but first, here's a recap of the key developments over the course of the last 24 hours.

• NATO has announced €40bn (£33.6bn) in military aid will be given to Ukraine during the next 12 months;
• The US has also promised a new $225m (£174m) aid package;
  
• Joe Biden mistakenly introduced Volodymyr Zelenskyy as 'President Putin' in Washington;
  
• NATO's secretary general Jens Stoltenberg says Ukraine's future is in the alliance and its allies are "eager" to demonstrate their support to Mr Zelenskyy and his country;
• Hungary does not want NATO to become an "anti-China" bloc, and will not support it doing so, the country's foreign minister has said;
• A Russian plot to kill the CEO of a German arms manufacturer has reportedly been foiled by the US and Germany;
• Ukraine and Romania have signed a 10-year security agreement, while Norway will give £72.2m to boost Ukraine's air defences.

We are ending our live coverage for now.

Scroll back to find out all the day's latest developments.

The Democrat congressman becomes the second senior lawmaker to call for Biden to stand down following his latest gaffes.

Analysis by James Matthews, US correspondent

It was Biden’s big screen test but, in truth, he rather blew it before it began.

A couple of hours before he took the stage, the president had a "Putin" moment – mistakenly introducing Ukraine's President Zelenskyy as "President Putin".

It was already the gaffe of the day.

Biden might have led a successful NATO conference but it was a meme-tastic moment to define his performance for the screen-scrolling generation, the very one he needs onside.

Joe Biden spoke economy, foreign policy and "domestic division" as he rolled out his record.

His difficulty, by now, is an audience that can't hear one sentence for the anticipation of what he'll say next.

He was asked about Kamala Harris and he mistakenly called her "vice-president Trump".

Like the "Putin" gaffe, it was a mistake that anyone could make. If Biden himself had made it a couple of years ago, it would have gone unnoticed.

His problem now is that every sign of infirmity, large or small, feeds into an established narrative – one that tells the story of a stubborn old president, cosseted by a government machine not listening to a growing crescendo of concern for his mental fitness.

Over the course of the news conference lasting an hour, he did actually hold it together.

As a politician talking politics, he sounded as comfortable as it gets at the age of 81. On the subject matter, he sounded across his brief and finished with the certainty that he was the "best qualified to govern and to win".

The uncertainty is, was it good enough?

Not for Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence committee, who called for the president to step down within minutes of the news conference ending.

On the night of the big news conference, the big question is now: how many will follow?