A gaffe by US President Joe Biden, calling Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy “president Putin”, is “unfortunate”, Anthony Albanese says.

Mr Biden made the comments while introducing the Ukrainian president at the NATO summit in Washington, as he comes under increasing pressure to step down from the upcoming presidential election over mental fitness concerns.

The remarks were made just before Mr Biden was set to give a press conference.

The Australian prime minister steered clear on whether the US president should step down, but sympathised with Mr Biden.

“Everyone from time to time, I think has made a slip, it clearly was on his mind who President Zelenskiy is fighting,” Mr Albanese told Brisbane radio station 4BC on Friday.

“But it certainly is unfortunate.”

Calls have been growing for the Democrats to find a new candidate to run in November’s election against former president Donald Trump, following Mr Biden’s performance in a debate in June.

Mr Albanese said whether Mr Biden did step down was a matter for the US, but indicated the president was “on top of his game” when the pair met in Washington in 2023.

“(Biden) chaired a meeting of the entire cabinet … I had a long meeting with him in the Oval Office. We had a couple of dinners, including the official state dinner,” he said.

“He certainly was on top of international affairs, the AUKUS defence arrangements and our relationship, which is so important between Australia and the United States.”

This post was originally published on Michael West.