the threat to ukraine today. hosting a centerpiece event near 0maha beach, french president emmanuel macron said western support for ukraine will not waver. us presidentjoe biden also delivered an address in which he warned that democracy is facing a greater threat than at any time since the second world war. 0ne world leader was notably absent from the events russia s vladimir putin, who did attend the 70th anniversary commemorations 10 years ago. from normandy, our europe editor katya adler reports. the proud anthem of the french resistance. sung in normandy today by the students who could be the great, even great great grandchildren of those who fought and died here forfreedom. at this international d day ceremony, heads of state and government, representatives of europe s royal families stood shoulder to shoulder. hearts full of gratitude. translation: they were afraid.
says, i was honoured to help raise £100,000 for the charity to send veterans back to normandy, a pleasure to meet them. rishi sunak could not be bothered to attend the international event above 0maha beach. who believes in our people? him or me? jessica parker is following the labour campaign today. we saw what nigel farage has tweeted in response to rishi sunak s apology, what is the labour response to the prime minister s apology? yes, unsurprisingly, pretty critical response from the labour party following yesterday s events and rishi sunak s decision to leave the commemorations early. we have been hearing from labour s shadow paymaster general, jonathan ashworth tsch, saying the pm chose to prioritise his vanity tv appearances over the veterans, a reference to
bring in our europe editor, as we watch these pictures, and we talk about what we heard from president biden, he talked, did he not, about ukraine, he bought brought it back to what is happening in the present day and said the struggles of ukrainians in the face of russian aggression captures the spirit of d day. aggression captures the spirit of d-da . , ., aggression captures the spirit of d-da . , . , , . aggression captures the spirit of d-da. , . ,, . d-day. yes, i mean, the speech was very much d-day. yes, i mean, the speech was very much about d-day. yes, i mean, the speech was very much about respecting - d-day. yes, i mean, the speech was very much about respecting the - d-day. yes, i mean, the speech was| very much about respecting the past, i am talking to you from 0maha beach where you had two us infantry battalions landing on the morning of the 6th ofjune. and of the around 5000 allied soldiers who lost their lives on d day. more than half of those were us soldiers. th
landing troops would have encountered on 0maha beach for example. some of the 25 tanks made it safely onto the ground here. it was also described as the most strategically ambitious landing because the men were charged with getting eight miles inland to a city by the end of the day, in fact it took six weeks. the german defences were reasonable if not formidable and a lot of these houses were used by the germans, they were bolstered there, and they became part of the atlantic wall itself. 29,000 men landed on this beach, 603 of them died, and a lot of them were from the royal ulster rifles, now the royal irish regiment. major general: we arejoins me. we royal irish regiment. ma or general: we arejoins meh
and at 2:30pm, the main international ceremony will be taking place on 0maha beach. over 25 heads of state, veterans and officials will honour the more than 156,000 troops who landed on the beach on d day. we are trying to give you a sense of the occasion here at the memorial. and as we look out over the scene today, our royal correspondent daniela relphjoins me now. probably worth taking a look at the scene with the viewers this morning to give them a sense of this place. i had not been before yesterday evening and i had a chance to walk around, and it is spectacular and the setting today, with the sea