Disagree.
Referee can and do make mistakes during the game, just like every single player, in fact less than every player. They also only get one view and that can be obstructed.
There are not only 18 mistakes the referees have made this season, there are many more.
The VAR though has no excuse to get things wrong. And in 18 cases this year, despite having time to review numerous times from numerous angles, they come to the incorrect conclusion, to a large degree. These are refereeing mistakes, that VAR have erroneously failed to correct, these are VAR errors