Ukrainian President and First Lady Participate in Ceremony Marking 80th Anniversary of Normandy Allied Landings

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and First Lady Olena Zelenska took part in the official international ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy. The ceremony took place at the Omaha Beach memorial in the French city of Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer.

The ceremony was attended by leaders of a number of countries, including French President Emmanuel Macron, US President Joseph Biden, King Charles III of the United Kingdom, Prince William of Wales, Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau, and Federal Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz, President of Poland Andrzej Duda, President of the Czech Republic Petr Pavel, President of Italy Sergio Mattarella, Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen, Prime Minister of Norway Jonas Har Støre, Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte and President of the European Council Charles Michel.

On 6 June, Europe marks the 80th anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy in 1944, against the backdrop of a new war that Russia launched against Ukraine in 2022. 

The Normandy landings, also known as D-Day, took place on 6 June 1944. It is one of the key events of the Second World War. Allied troops, including those from the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada, landed on the Normandy coast in Nazi-occupied France. This allowed them to launch a large-scale offensive in Western Europe, which, along with other battles of World War II, led to the defeat of Nazism in May 1945.

This year, for the first time in 20 years, representatives of Germany are taking part in the D-Day commemorations to mark the events that marked the beginning of the liberation of Western Europe from Nazism. Also, for the first time, representatives of Russia, which has been waging an aggressive war in Ukraine for three years, have not been invited to the celebrations.