Zürcher Nachrichten - As war again shakes Europe, leaders mark 80 years since D-Day

EUR -
AED 3.834856
AFN 72.981026
ALL 98.491871
AMD 410.574545
ANG 1.873597
AOA 958.441534
ARS 1062.068709
AUD 1.668164
AWG 1.879297
AZN 1.774656
BAM 1.956632
BBD 2.099092
BDT 124.232814
BGN 1.958008
BHD 0.392267
BIF 3073.606664
BMD 1.044054
BND 1.4119
BOB 7.184054
BRL 6.348575
BSD 1.039642
BTN 88.383574
BWP 14.369109
BYN 3.402246
BYR 20463.455505
BZD 2.089788
CAD 1.4984
CDF 2996.434335
CHF 0.932371
CLF 0.037427
CLP 1032.725839
CNY 7.619298
CNH 7.624449
COP 4583.396412
CRC 524.522987
CUC 1.044054
CUP 27.667427
CVE 110.312953
CZK 25.108921
DJF 185.128703
DKK 7.458302
DOP 63.306913
DZD 140.708819
EGP 53.090769
ERN 15.660808
ETB 129.594994
FJD 2.419125
FKP 0.826872
GBP 0.82945
GEL 2.934095
GGP 0.826872
GHS 15.282497
GIP 0.826872
GMD 75.171679
GNF 8981.818386
GTQ 8.010405
GYD 217.502466
HKD 8.11186
HNL 26.390219
HRK 7.4889
HTG 136.00782
HUF 413.977438
IDR 16852.07323
ILS 3.801792
IMP 0.826872
INR 88.729074
IQD 1361.878967
IRR 43941.619435
ISK 145.113457
JEP 0.826872
JMD 162.65915
JOD 0.740338
JPY 163.428363
KES 134.213278
KGS 90.832546
KHR 4177.776073
KMF 486.659583
KPW 939.647883
KRW 1514.838471
KWD 0.321516
KYD 0.866368
KZT 545.98211
LAK 22754.673557
LBP 93096.577585
LKR 305.22976
LRD 188.690217
LSL 19.139837
LTL 3.08282
LVL 0.631537
LYD 5.108172
MAD 10.463148
MDL 19.149141
MGA 4905.085269
MKD 61.561171
MMK 3391.046186
MNT 3547.694854
MOP 8.322738
MRU 41.345577
MUR 49.280896
MVR 16.080872
MWK 1802.251891
MXN 20.95141
MYR 4.682524
MZN 66.718935
NAD 19.139837
NGN 1614.576632
NIO 38.256264
NOK 11.798806
NPR 141.414119
NZD 1.845107
OMR 0.401651
PAB 1.039642
PEN 3.871246
PGK 4.215792
PHP 61.207138
PKR 289.37392
PLN 4.260093
PYG 8106.446244
QAR 3.789911
RON 4.977322
RSD 117.017747
RUB 107.411783
RWF 1449.216096
SAR 3.922094
SBD 8.752883
SCR 14.548185
SDG 628.007273
SEK 11.498155
SGD 1.414228
SHP 0.826872
SLE 23.801848
SLL 21893.290418
SOS 594.152588
SRD 36.678625
STD 21609.806806
SVC 9.096867
SYP 2623.21688
SZL 19.135135
THB 35.777638
TJS 11.373235
TMT 3.664629
TND 3.312708
TOP 2.445276
TRY 36.741769
TTD 7.056
TWD 34.125736
TZS 2521.389855
UAH 43.600836
UGX 3813.621262
USD 1.044054
UYU 46.369713
UZS 13403.698233
VES 53.742914
VND 26555.509733
VUV 123.952164
WST 2.884499
XAF 656.235982
XAG 0.035143
XAU 0.000398
XCD 2.821607
XDR 0.793037
XOF 656.235982
XPF 119.331742
YER 261.404956
ZAR 19.098632
ZMK 9397.736499
ZMW 28.771231
ZWL 336.184914
  • BCC

    -0.2600

    122.75

    -0.21%

  • BCE

    0.0500

    23.16

    +0.22%

  • CMSD

    0.0000

    23.56

    0%

  • NGG

    0.8200

    58.5

    +1.4%

  • GSK

    0.1700

    33.6

    +0.51%

  • SCS

    -0.5800

    11.74

    -4.94%

  • CMSC

    0.0200

    23.86

    +0.08%

  • RBGPF

    59.9600

    59.96

    +100%

  • JRI

    0.1100

    12.06

    +0.91%

  • RIO

    -0.0900

    58.64

    -0.15%

  • RELX

    -0.3100

    45.47

    -0.68%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    8.39

    +0.12%

  • AZN

    0.9100

    65.35

    +1.39%

  • BTI

    0.1131

    36.24

    +0.31%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0100

    7.27

    -0.14%

  • BP

    0.1900

    28.6

    +0.66%

As war again shakes Europe, leaders mark 80 years since D-Day
As war again shakes Europe, leaders mark 80 years since D-Day / Photo: Lou Benoist - AFP

As war again shakes Europe, leaders mark 80 years since D-Day

Western leaders will this week mark on the beaches of northern France 80 years since Allied troops surged into Nazi occupied Europe in the World War II D-Day landings, haunted by the war again raging on the continent as Ukraine battles Russian invasion.

Text size:

French President Emmanuel Macron is to host US President Joe Biden, British King Charles III and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the shores of Normandy, representing the three main countries involved in the landings on June 6, 1944.

But in a strong act of symbolism, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will also attend.

No official from Russia has been invited, after Paris reversed plans to host lower-level representatives in recognition of the Soviet Union's immense contribution in World War II.

The most honoured guests will be the surviving veterans: some 200 are expected, a number that is dwindling every year with most at least in their late 90s and some over 100.

But as leaders pay their respects to the veterans of World War II, the all-too-modern war that has raged for over two years since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 will be uppermost in their minds.

- 'Galvanise our resolve' -

Biden, Macron and Zelensky will be coming together at a critical moment in the conflict, with Kyiv warning that Russia risks gaining the upper hand without a significant increase in Western help.

Macron has already sought to break taboos by refusing to rule out sending troops to Ukraine, a position that unsettled some EU allies.

But there have been shifts in recent weeks, with the West showing readiness to allow Ukraine to use Western weapons to strike targets in Russia and France pushing for the deployment of European military instructors in Ukraine.

Macron, who once sought to build a relationship with President Vladimir Putin, has repeatedly warned about the existential nature of the Ukraine conflict for Europe, saying in a speech in April that "our Europe is mortal, it can die."

"Never will we forget the sacrifice of thousands of young soldiers" who crossed the Channel that day, the French president said in a statement ahead of the ceremonies, expressing the "unending gratitude" of France.

Referring to the war in Ukraine, he said the current time "is a period that challenges us to ask what price we are prepared to pay for our freedom and for defending our values.

"May the example of these heroes -- whether renowned or anonymous -- galvanise our resolve and our belief in a future of peace and security."

- 'The longest day' -

The landings by Allied forces, backed by airborne operations that parachuted troops direct onto occupied soil, were the biggest naval operation ever in terms of the number of ships deployed and the troops involved.

By the end of what became known as "the longest day", 156,000 Allied troops with 20,000 vehicles had landed in Nazi-occupied northern France despite facing a hail of bullets, artillery and aircraft fire.

In an operation kept secret from the Germans, the Allies landed on five beaches spread across the Normandy coast: Omaha and Utah for the Americans, Gold and Sword for the British and Juno for the British and Canadians.

The landings marked the beginning of the end of the Nazi occupation of Europe, although months of intense and bloody fighting still lay ahead before victory over the regime of Adolf Hitler.

Three days of ceremonies will see Macron on Wednesday pay tribute to French victims of Nazi occupation, including 70 members of the French Resistance executed by the Germans at Caen prison in Normandy on D-Day.

The 80th anniversary Thursday will see leaders attend national ceremonies at the heart-stoppingly vast war cemeteries on the Normandy coast, with an international ceremony attended by all the main guests at Omaha.

On Friday, Biden will give a speech at the Pointe du Hoc -- a clifftop promontory whose German bunkers were attacked by US troops in a daring assault during the landings -- on defending freedom and democracy. Macron will also give a keynote speech in Bayeux, the first French town to be liberated.

Biden will continue the trip in Paris Saturday with the first state visit of his presidency to France, giving him and Macron a critical chance to push for peace in Ukraine and also the conflict in Gaza in talks at the Elysee Palace.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov batted away the lack of an invitation for Russia, saying the "most important for us will be the commemorations next year for the 80th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War," using the term most widely used in Russia for World War II.

I.Widmer--NZN