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COLLEVILLE-SUR-MER, FRANCE —U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday marked the solemnity of the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landing of Allied troops on the shores of Normandy by vowing that the United States and NATO would not abandon support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia's two-year invasion.
Speaking in Colleville-sur-Mer, France, Biden said "we will not walk away" from Ukraine's defense and "surrender to bullies."
The U.S. leader said Ukraine was invaded by Russian President Vladimir Putin, a "tyrant intent on domination," and that democracy is now more at risk than at any point since World War II.
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"Make no mistake, we will not bow down, we cannot surrender to the bullies, it is simply unthinkable. If we do, freedom will be subjugated, all Europe will be threatened," he said in offering wide support for the global world order that emerged in the aftermath of World War II.
"To surrender to bullies, to bow down to dictators, is simply unthinkable," he said during a ceremony at the American cemetery in Normandy. "If we were to do that, it means we'd be forgetting what happened here on these hallowed beaches."
D-Day was the largest amphibious assault in history, and Biden called it a "powerful illustration of how alliances, real alliances make us stronger."
He said that was "a lesson that I pray we Americans never forget."
Biden greeted World War II veterans who participated in the D-Day landings, including many in wheelchairs and some who are more than 100 years old.
"You saved the world," Biden told one veteran. He greeted each veteran one by one, offering a salute or a handshake, and handing them a special coin he had designed for the occasion.
Biden's appearance came in the midst of his 2024 reelection campaign for the presidency against Republican Donald Trump, who spoke at the 75th anniversary of D-Day five years ago.
Trump, who has often questioned the necessity of the U.S. commitment to NATO, the West's main military alliance, hailed the soldiers who stormed the beaches of Normandy in his 2019 speech but did not praise the global alliances that emerged after the war.
Trump has often attacked European members of NATO who do not spend the equivalent of 2% of their national economic output on defense, a NATO-suggested level for defense of their own countries.
Biden has cited his administration's record of building global alliances as a key accomplishment. He recently told Time magazine that Trump "wanted to just abandon" U.S. allies and suggested the former president would ultimately pull the country out of NATO if he is elected.
VOA's Anita Powell contributed to this report from Colleville-Sur-Mer
The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.