Why Zelensky can be current on June 6 in Normandy | EUROtoday
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HAS As the commemorative sequence of the Landing approaches, every day brings its share of reports and ceremonies added by the Élysée. The newest, a European assembly organized by Emmanuel Macron on the night of June 6 at Abbaye-aux-Hommes, in Caen, after the big gathering on Omaha seashore.
A distinguished visitor, Vladimir Zelensky, official visitor, in different phrases, visitor of France, would be the star of what’s remodeling into a casual worldwide summit of the free world, all in league in opposition to Russia, the good absentee. , which can be like a up to date reproduction of the German enemy of 1944. This shift was solely attainable by excluding, for the primary time since June 6 turned a world occasion in 1984, any illustration of the Russia.
We thought that the Russian ambassador to France would a minimum of be current, however this won’t be the case. However, the Élysée has instructed the prefectures and the National Veterans Office to put flowers in French cemeteries on the graves of Soviet troopers who fell in 1944, typically former prisoners of warfare of the Germans transferred to the jap France who had joined the resistance.
Ukrainians in Polish uniform
But how can we justify the presence of the Ukrainian president throughout the commemorations of June 6, 1944? The providers of the Élysée, helped by specialists in Ukrainian historical past, took a better have a look at the presence of Ukrainians in France on the time. However, some, born on present Ukrainian territory, have been a part of the Polish division which landed in August 1944, simply earlier than the twoe DB: practically 18,000 males who performed a decisive position within the breakthrough of the Falaise pocket, the important thing second of the Battle of Normandy, earlier than going to liberate the French cities of the North.
These males, who typically fought since 1940 alongside the French and the British, had been evacuated throughout the debacle earlier than becoming a member of the United Kingdom, the place the Polish authorities in exile was situated. They thus fought alongside the British, notably in Libya. But among the many eight companions of the Liberation of Russian nationality, there are additionally 5 who have been born in Ukraine. Two of them, Alexandre Krementchousky and Nicolas Roumiantzoff, even joined the twoe DB and landed initially of August 1944.
Ukrainians in German uniform
All this can be remembered on June 6. But will we add that Ukraine, which was then a part of the USSR, additionally had troopers who fought on June 6, 1944 beneath the German uniform of the Osttruppen (East Slavic troops). Taken prisoner by the Wehrmacht, they determined to hitch it to seek out freedom. There have been Ukrainian howitzers within the seashore batteries firing on the Allied troops.
The first French casualty of the Landings, Corporal Bouétard, shot down on June 5, 1944 throughout the French SAS operation in Brittany, to whom Emmanuel Macron can pay tribute this June 5, was killed by a Ukrainian. Will this be clarified, if solely to provide an concept of the historic complexity of this nation caught between the USSR, Germany and the Allied camp?
The day of June 6, particularly the afternoon, will subsequently resemble an important geopolitical ballet, since a refreshment earlier than the ceremony on Omaha seashore can be deliberate with all of the leaders of the international locations which participated within the Landings. Among these leaders are sovereigns who, constitutionally, do not need the proper to take part in political conferences.
Officially, we could have a drink whereas exchanging pleasant phrases. But if we add up, all these international locations represented can be within the electoral marketing campaign, the European elections for the members of the European Union, the elections for the House of Commons (July 4) for the British, the American presidential election for Joe Biden… National points which can intervene with the opposite topic, worldwide this one, of this June 6: the continuation of the battle to be waged in opposition to Russia.
https://www.lepoint.fr/monde/pourquoi-zelensky-sera-present-le-6-juin-en-normandie-31-05-2024-2561655_24.php