PARIS — President Joe Biden on Friday for the first time publicly apologized to Ukraine for a monthslong congressional holdup in American military assistance that let Russia make gains on the battlefield.

Biden met in Paris with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who appealed for bipartisan U.S. support going forward “like it was during World War II.”

A day earlier, the two had attended ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, where Biden had drawn common cause between the Allied forces that helped free Europe from Nazi Germany and today’s effort to support Ukraine against Russia’s invasion and Zelenskyy had been greeted with a rapt ovation.

“I apologize for those weeks of not knowing what’s going to happen in terms of funding,” Biden said, referring to the six-month holdup by conservative Republicans in Congress to a $61 billion military aid package for Ukraine. Still, the Democratic president insisted the American people were standing by Ukraine for the long haul. “We’re still in. Completely. Thoroughly,” he said.

Later Friday, a day after paying his respects to the D-Day force in an emotional ceremony at the Normandy American Cemetery, Biden summoned Americans to defend democracy from threats at home and abroad — and cast an implicit contrast with former President Donald Trump — as he drew on the heroism of Army Rangers who scaled the seaside cliffs of Pointe du Hoc during the invasion 80 years ago.

The same spot was etched in the nation’s political memory in 1984, when President Ronald Reagan honored the “boys of Pointe du Hoc” and drew common cause between their almost unthinkable feat in the face of Nazi Germany’s tyranny and the Reagan-era Cold War struggle against the Soviet Union.

Now, Biden sought to channel both historic moments to advance his own vision for the country’s global role in the face of two grueling wars and in an election year when Trump has continued to lie about his 2020 election loss and has threatened to dismantle U.S. commitments overseas if he regains the White House.

“As we gather here today, it’s not just to honor those who showed such remarkable bravery that day June 6, 1944,” Biden said. “It’s to listen to the echo of their voices. To hear them. Because they are summoning us. They’re asking us what will we do. They’re not asking us to scale these cliffs. They’re asking us to stay true to what America stands for.”

It was ostensibly an official speech, and Biden, a Democrat, never referenced the Republican former president’s name. But his remarks were steeped in political overtones as his campaign tries to attract national security-minded Republican voters who lionized Reagan and have never warmed to Trump’s “America First” foreign policy.

“They’re not asking us to do their job,” Biden said of the “ghosts of Pointe du Hoc.” “They’re asking us to do our job: to protect freedom in our time, to defend democracy, to stand up aggression abroad and at home, to be part of something bigger than ourselves.”

Similarly the apology to Zelenskyy— and the Ukrainian president’s plea for rock-solid support akin to the allied coalition in WWII — served as a reminder that for all of Biden’s talk of an unflagging U.S commitment to Kyiv, recalcitrance among congressional Republicans and an isolationist strain in American politics have exposed its fragility.

And, as during the speech at Pointe du Hoc, although unremarked upon, the specter of Trump’s candidacy loomed over the discussion, as the presumptive GOP nominee has spoken positively of Russian President Vladimir Putin and sparked Ukrainian concerns that he would call for it to cede territory to end the conflict.

During the meeting with Biden, Zelenskyy pressed for all Americans to support his country’s defense against Russia’s invasion, and he thanked lawmakers for eventually coming together to approve the weapons package, which has allowed Ukraine to stem Russian advances in recent weeks.

“It’s very important that in this unity, United States of America, all American people stay with Ukraine like it was during World War II,” Zelenskyy said. “How the United States helped to save human lives, to save Europe. And we count on your continuing support in standing with us shoulder to shoulder.”

During their meeting, Zelenskyy shared a “very frank assessment” with Biden about conditions on the ground and the pressure that Ukraine continues to face from Russia, especially in the Donbas region, according to John Kirby, the White House’s national security spokesman. But because of the recent infusion of U.S. aid, the Ukrainians have been able to “thwart Russian advances,” particularly around Kharkiv.

The U.S. will send about $225 million in military aid to Ukraine, Biden announced Friday. The latest package includes munitions for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, as well as mortar systems and an array of artillery rounds.

Normandy’s Pointe du Hoc is located on the sheer cliffs between Omaha and Utah beaches. Before D-Day, the Nazis were believed to have stationed artillery there, which would have allowed them to shell critical landing zones for Allied troops.

Army Rangers used ropes, ladders and their hands to scale Pointe du Hoc while under fire. When they reached the top, they realized that the artillery had been moved elsewhere and only decoys remained. The weapons were tracked down nearby and disabled.

The mission was memorialized by Reagan on the 40th anniversary of D-Day in 1984.

“These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc,” he said. “These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war.”