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Biden pledges continued Ukraine support in D-Day speech

06.06.2024 19:00
US President Joe Biden pledged that Western allies will continue to support Ukraine and not surrender to Russian tyranny in a speech on the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy.
US President Joe Biden delivers a speech during a D-Day ceremony in Normandy, France on Thursday, June 6, 2024.
US President Joe Biden delivers a speech during a D-Day ceremony in Normandy, France on Thursday, June 6, 2024.Photo: EPA/ANDRE PAIN

Speaking at a ceremony at the Normandy American Cemetery on Thursday, Biden declared that the United States and NATO "will not walk away" and abandon Ukraine as it battles Russia's invasion, news outlets reported.

He said Ukraine was invaded by a "tyrant bent on domination" and warned that democracy was now more at risk than at any time since World War II.

"Make no mistake: We will not bow down, we cannot surrender to the bullies; it is simply unthinkable," Biden said in Colleville-sur-Mer in northern France, as cited by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

"If we do, freedom will be subjugated, all Europe will be threatened," he told an audience including French President Emmanuel Macron and US war veterans.

Thursday's D-Day commemorations at Omaha Beach in Normandy were attended by leaders including Poland's President Andrzej and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, Polish state news agency PAP reported.

Britain's King Charles III and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau were also among the heads of state and dignitaries who were in attendance.

On June 6, 1944, a date known as D-Day, tens of thousands of Allied troops attacked German forces on the coast of northern France in a military operation that marked the start of a campaign to liberate Europe from Nazi occupation.

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, starting the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War II.

Thursday is day 834 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

(gs)

Source: IAR, PAP, Reuters, rferl.org