Mattarella to attend D-Day ceremonies in Normandy.

Italy's president Sergio Mattarella will join Western leaders in France on Thursday to mark the 80th anniversary of the World War Two D-Day landings to liberate Europe from Nazi occupation.

The UK's King Charles, US president Joe Biden and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau will represent the Allied powers whose troops staged the largest amphibious invasion in the history of warfare on 6 June 1944.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky will also join ceremonies hosted by French president Emmanuel Macron, however the most honoured guests will be around 200 D-Day veterans, aged between 96 and 104.

Italian media reported that the commemorations will provide an opportunity for a bilateral meeting between Biden and Zelensky ahead of the G7 summit next week in the southern Puglia region of Italy.

D-Day landings

Around 156,000 Allied soldiers landed by sea and air in the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944, including 73,000 soldiers from the US and 83,000 from Britain and Canada.

There were 4,414 Allied soldiers killed on D-Day itself and more than 5,000 wounded.

The D-Day landings, which took place on five separate beaches in Normandy, played a crucial role in the defeat of Nazi Germany and the end of World War Two.

D-Day took place two days after Allied forces liberated Rome from Nazi occupation, following the Anzio and Nettuno landings and the Battle of Monte Cassino.