D-Day: Western leaders will have their own objectives as they meet for events in France
As silence falls over the beaches of Normandy, the leaders gathered to mark this important anniversary will recognise the grim irony that hangs in the air.
An occasion that recalls the horrors of war will take place as conflict rages in Europe and beyond.
Its why words will be chosen carefully in public and why, along with the D-Day events, this will be an important diplomatic event. Leaders will meet in Caen this afternoon to hold talks, the sight of veterans, beaches and long lines of war graves fresh in their memory.
And it’s also why Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, will be attending the commemoration.
D-Day latest: 100-year-old veteran puts smile on King’s face
He will remind those present that, just as the number of D-Day veterans is dwindling, so his own country’s pain is growing all the time.
The D-Day events have always been about remembering the dead, honouring those who took part and ensuring that history is not forgotten. Zelenskyy will surely invoke all these themes as being his country’s present, not its past.
His main message will be a familiar one – that Ukraine needs more weapons and more support. That his country’s war, and the pain it is suffering, will have repercussions for Europe, and for the wider world.
There are crucial figures here for him to talk to. Foremost, of course, will be the American president Joe Biden, whose money is so crucial to Ukraine’s ability to fight its war and whose nation probably holds the key to whether, and when, Ukraine eventually joins NATO.
Zelenskyy, an adept politician, will also want his diplomats to be working on developing a network of contacts who might still remain in place if Donald Trump were to win the American election – a result that would surely imperil at least some of his nation’s funding.
But Zelenskyy will not seek Biden alone. He will want to see the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, who has provided a huge amount of support to his nation.
German leaders have long been invited to these commemorations as a sign of reconciliation and unity – another theme that the Ukrainian leader will wish to project.
Then there is the French president, Emmanuel Macron, who is hosting the commemoration and has long sought to project himself as Europe’s diplomat-in-chief, and Charles Michel, the president of the European Council who has spoken regularly of his desire to tighten relations with Ukraine.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Sunak reads message given to D-Day troops
Zelenskyy will want to see Rishi Sunak, too, and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau – G7 leaders and, crucially, significant voices within NATO.
And he will certainly want to shake hands with prime ministers from the Netherlands, Greece and Luxembourg – all of them EU member states.
But one of his most sensitive meetings could be with the Polish president Andrzej Duda.
Duda sits at the heart of a national political system that is almost dysfunctional, thanks to his own opposition to the prime minister, Donald Tusk.
But Zelenskyy still needs the support of a giant neighbouring country that has taken in so many of his own citizens as refugees.
He won’t want to be seen as getting too close to Duda – Tusk is a more natural ally – but nor will he want to upset him. Diplomacy is never easy.
Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts
Biden’s role here is primarily to represent the families of those who perished on the beaches, for D-Day remains a seminal event in American history.
But he, too, will have an eye on the wider picture – on the need to project himself as a strong statesmanlike figure who commands global respect – a sort of anti-Trump.
As for Macron, the timing is politically handy. Just as French voters head to polling stations for the European elections, there will be images of their president shaking hands with Mr Biden as the president follows the D-Day commemoration with a state visit to France.
Read more on Sky News:
Sunak and Starmer to take part in Sky News special
Reform UK closes gap on Tories in latest poll
Wales’s first minister loses confidence vote
Macron’s team will no doubt present this as proof that, under this president’s stewardship, the country’s diplomatic clout has grown; that he is a cut above his political rivals.
But in truth, Mr Macron’s self-made centrist party, now known as Renaissance, has been bracing itself for electoral defeat to the right-wing Rassemblement National, the party of Marine Le Pen.
So while it’s hard to imagine many of Le Pen’s backers would change their mind simply because they see the two presidents shaking hands at the Elysee, it might be enough to either win over some of the undecided, or to lure out a chunk of the reluctant.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
And amid all the diplomacy and the meetings, there is one country very notable by its absence. Russia’s troops played a pivotal role in the Second World War, but there will be no Russian representative at D-Day.
Vladimir Putin was never invited, nor ever going to come, but the Russian ambassador to France had been asked to attend.
That invitation was later rescinded – a reminder that, 80 years after D-Day, Europe is fractured once more.
World
‘Widespread sexual violence’ took place during Hamas’s 7 October attacks, report by Israeli experts says
A newly released report led by Israeli legal and gender experts presents detailed evidence alleging “widespread and systematic” sexual violence during the Hamas-led terror attack on 7 October.
Warning: This story contains descriptions of rape and sexual violence
The findings, published by the Dinah Project, argue that these acts amount to conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), and assert that “Hamas used sexual violence as a tactical weapon of war”.
The report draws on 18 months of investigation and is based on survivor testimonies, eyewitness accounts, and interviews with first responders, morgue personnel and healthcare professionals.
According to the Dinah Project, the documented patterns – such as forced nudity, gang rapes, genital mutilation, and threats of forced marriage – indicate a deliberate and coordinated use of sexual violence by Hamas operatives during the attack.
Reported incidents span at least six locations, including the Nova music festival, and several kibbutzim in southern Israel.
A destroyed car near the police station in Sderot, following the 7 October attacks by Hamas. Pic: AP
One section of the report describes victims “found fully or partially naked from the waist down, with their hands tied behind their backs and/or to structures such as trees and poles, and shot”.
At the Nova music festival and surrounding areas, the investigators found “reasonable grounds to believe” that multiple women were raped or gang-raped before being killed.
The report’s findings are consistent with earlier investigations by the United Nations and the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Read more:
What is the possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal?
Israeli soldier describes arbitrary killing of civilians in Gaza
The UN’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict previously concluded that there were “reasonable grounds to believe” CRSV took place during the attack.
Destroyed vehicles near the grounds of the Supernova electronic music festival. Pic: AP
Significantly, the Dinah Project urges the international community to officially recognise the use of sexual violence by Hamas as a deliberate strategy of war and calls on the United Nations to add Hamas to its list of parties responsible for conflict-related sexual violence.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
The nature and scale of sexual violence on 7 October have been a subject of intense controversy, with some accusing parties of weaponising the narrative for political ends.
This report seeks to confront what its authors call “denial, misinformation, and global silence,” and to provide justice for the victims.
Hamas has denied that its fighters have used sexual violence and mistreated female hostages.
World
Israeli soldiers ‘psychologically broken’ after ‘confronting the reality’ in Gaza, UN expert says
A UN expert has said some young soldiers in the Israeli Defence Forces are being left “psychologically broken” after “confront[ing] the reality among the rubble” when serving in Gaza.
Francesca Albanese, the UN Human Rights Council’s special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, was responding to a Sky News interview with an Israeli solider who described arbitrary killing of civilians in Gaza.
She told The World with Yalda Hakim that “many” of the young people fighting in Gaza are “haunted by what they have seen, what they have done”.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Ms Albanese said. “This is not a war, this is an assault against civilians and this is producing a fracture in many of them.
“As that soldier’s testimony reveals, especially the youngest among the soldiers have been convinced this is a form of patriotism, of defending Israel and Israeli society against this opaque but very hard felt enemy, which is Hamas.
“But the thing is that they’ve come to confront the reality among the rubble of Gaza.”
An Israeli soldier directs a tank near the border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel. Pic: AP
Being in Gaza is “probably this is the first time the Israeli soldiers are awakening to this,” she added. “And they don’t make sense of this because their attachment to being part of the IDF, which is embedded in their national ideology, is too strong.
“This is why they are psychologically broken.”
Jonathan Conricus, a former IDF spokesman who is now a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, said he believes the Sky News interview with the former IDF solider “reflects one part of how ugly, difficult and horrible fighting in a densely populated, urban terrain is”.
“I think [the ex-soldier] is reflecting on how difficult it is to fight in such an area and what the challenges are on the battlefield,” he said.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Ex-IDF spokesperson: ‘No distinction between military and civilians’
‘An economy of genocide’
Ms Albanese, one of dozens of independent UN-mandated experts, also said her most recent report for the human rights council has identified “an economy of genocide” in Israel.
The system, she told Hakim, is made up of more than 60 private sector companies “that have become enmeshed in the economy of occupation […] that have Israel displace the Palestinians and replace them with settlers, settlements and infrastructure Israel runs.”
Israel has rejected allegations of genocide in Gaza, citing its right to defend itself after Hamas’s attack on 7 October 2023.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘Israel has shifted towards economy of genocide’
The companies named in Ms Albanese’s report are in, but not limited to, the financial sector, big tech and the military industry.
“These companies can be held responsible for being directed linked to, or contributing, or causing human rights impacts,” she said. “We’re not talking of human rights violations, we are talking of crimes.”
“Some of the companies have engaged in good faith, others have not,” Ms Albanese said.
Read more:
Israeli soldier describes arbitrary killing of civilians in Gaza
British surgeons on life in Gaza
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
The companies she has named include American technology giant Palantir, which has issued a statement to Sky News.
It said it is “not true” that Palantir “is the (or a) developer of the ‘Gospel’ – the AI-assisted targeting software allegedly used by the IDF in Gaza, and that we are involved with the ‘Lavender’ database used by the IDF for targeting cross-referencing”.
“Both capabilities are independent of and pre-ate Palantir’s announced partnership with the Israeli Defence Ministry,” the statement added.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike