Biden links defense of Ukraine to heroism of D-Day as he warns ‘dark forces’ have not faded: ‘We will not walk away’

Eighty years to the day British, American, and Canadian soldiers landed in France and began the fight to liberate Europe that would end with the death of Hitler and defeat of Nazi Germany, President Joe Biden told an audience that included French and American dignataries — and nearly three dozen veterans of the battle that raged eight decades prior on the beaches of Normandy — that their fight against Nazism is echoed in the fight against Russian aggression being waged by Ukrainian soldiers and their allies today.

Biden, who traveled to France on Tuesday for the anniversary of the allied invasion of Europe known as Operation Overlord, told the assembled veterans, some of whom were decorated with the French Legion of Honor by French President Emmanuel Macron that it was his “highest honor” to salute them, as he recalled how several of the individuals present on stage with him had contributed to the allied victory that day.

“The men who fought here became heroes, not because they're the strongest or toughest or fiercest, although they were but because they were given an audacious mission, knowing the probability of dying was real. But they did it anyway,” he said. “They knew ... beyond any doubt that there are things that are worth fighting and dying for: Freedom is worth it. Democracy is worth it. America's worth it, the world is worth it, then, now and always.”

The president’s commemoration of the D-Day anniversary comes just months before the US presidential election, in which he is set to face off once more against Donald Trump, the man he defeated four years ago.

Though Biden did not mention his former and current opponent by name, he offered a wholehearted rejection of the Republican candidate’s “America First” worldview and his affinity for autocrats such as Russian President Vladimir Putin by linking the alliance that fought and won the Second World War with the alliances that came out of it and stand together today in defense of democracy.

He said the battle fought on those French beaches nearly a century ago proved that the “forces of liberty” were stronger than “the forces of conquest” as well as that“the ideals of our democracy are stronger than any army or combination of armies in the entire world.”

He also said the success of D-Day proved “the unbreakable unity of allies.”

“Real alliances make us stronger — a lesson that I pray we Americans never forget,” he said as he described how America and her allies had won the war and rebuilt Europe together before forming Nato, which he called “the greatest military alliance in the history of the world.”

At that very moment, the crowd erupted in applause for the alliance, which Biden said is “more united than ever, and even more prepared to keep the peace, deter aggression and defend freedom all around the world” with the additions of Finland and Sweden to the mutual defense block.

The defense of Nato was an implicit rebuke of Trump, who has often described the organization as a protection racket and has threatened to withdraw the US from the alliance or to not honor mutual defense commitments for countries that don’t spend enough on their own defense.

In contrast, Biden said America has invested in its’ alliances because alliances are in its’ own self-interest, calling the country’s “unique ability to bring countries together” an “undeniable source” of power.

“Isolationism was not the answer eighty years ago, and it is not the answer today,” he said.

Biden added that the same “dark forces” fought by the soldiers who landed at Normandy are still present in the world because they “never fade.”

“Aggression and greed, the desire to dominate and control, to change borders by force, these are perennial,” he said, part of an “unending” fight between “dictatorship and democracy.”

The fight in Ukraine, he continued, was just one “stark example.”

“Ukrainians are fighting with extraordinary courage. suffering great losses, but never backing down,” he said.

Similarly, he vowed that America, Nato, and a coalition of more than 50 other nations would continue to stand up for Kyiv’s defense.

“We will not walk away,” he said.

He added a warning that “the autocrats of the world” are watching what happens in Ukraine, and said it would be “unthinkable” for the US and her allies to “surrender to bullies” or “bow down to dictators”

“That means we'd be forgetting what happened here on these hallowed beaches. Make no mistake, we will not bow down, we will not forget,” he said.