Biden arrives in France to mark D-Day

US President Joe Biden arrived in France on Wednesday to take part in the 80th anniversary of D-Day this week.

Biden's presence in Paris comes as he tries to demonstrate consistent support for European security, at a time when some allies fear Donald Trump threatens to reverse US commitments if he wins another term in the White House.

Also, the visit comes at a time when the worst fighting since World War II continues in Ukraine and Western allies try to find ways to turn the war against Russia, which in recent weeks has made advances in the field of battle, AP reports.

On Thursday, Biden will visit the hallowed ground near the beaches of Normandy, where rows of bone-like stones mark the graves of American soldiers who died to end World War II. He will also speak Friday at Pointe du Hoc, a site on the French coast where Army Rangers scaled coastal cliffs to bypass Nazi defenses.

D-Day marked the start of Allied operations to liberate Western Europe, crush Nazi Germany and end World War II. 

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On this day, 156,000 Allied troops landed by sea and air on five beachheads in Normandy, France.

French President Emmanuel Macron will host US President Joe Biden, British King Charles and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the beaches of Normandy, representing the three main countries involved in the landings on June 6, 1944, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP). .

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and about 200 surviving war veterans are also expected to attend.

No Russian official representing Vladimir Putin's government has been invited from the Élysée Palace because of the Kremlin's war against Ukraine, now in its third year. Representatives of the anti-Kremlin opposition and civil society will also not be present.

AFP reports that while some Russian dissidents agreed that Moscow officials should not be present, they said Russians should not be completely excluded from the highly symbolic celebrations.

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"It is not right that representatives of Russia, which sacrificed millions in this war, will not be there," veterans' rights activist Lev Ponomarev, a co-founder of the Nobel Prize-winning Memorial Group for peace.

"I believe the opposition could and should have been there," said 82-year-old Ponomarev, who lives in France after fleeing threats of arrest in Russia.