French press review
In the spotlight: a month of war in Ukraine
Audio 04:35
Members of the Ukrainian State Emergency Service walk towards a rocket embedded in the asphalt in Kharkiv, February 25, 2022. © REUTERS/Maksim Levin
By: Frédéric Couteau Follow
4 mins
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“
It was on the night of February 23 to 24, Russia invaded Ukraine: a month ago, amazement
,” exclaims
La Croix
on the front page.
After the stupor of the first moments, "
the population has organized itself, with international aid, to support its armed forces
", notes the newspaper, and a month later, therefore, it is clear that "
the Russian offensive is slipping.
It took control of only one major city: the port of Kherson.
Elsewhere, its progress seems to be stalling.
Moscow forces are still trying to surround the capital, kyiv, where a curfew has been declared until this morning.
The main city in the east of the country, Kharkiv, is also resisting the battering of the Russian army.
In the South, it has been trampling for several days on the outskirts of Mykolaiv, far from the port of Odessa on the Black Sea.
If it is still too early to speak of a stalemate, one thing is clear
, notes La Croix:
the Ukrainian forces are holding their positions.
But the more the days pass and the longer the fighting lasts, the greater the risk of civilian casualties.
»
Getting bogged down…
Indeed, completes
Le Monde,
“
the offensive machine is blocked.
Launched on February 24, the dazzling war of annihilation of Ukraine wanted by Vladimir Putin has been experiencing a brutal slowdown for three weeks.
A real stagnation, masked by the storm of fire projected on the civilians, in the hospitals of Tchernihiv, the residential suburbs of kyiv, the theater of Mariupol.
(…)
After a month of war, tactical setbacks and voluntary breaks by the troops intertwine, to draw a possible failure of the Russian army.
(…)
The Russian newspaper
Komsomolskaya Pravda
mentioned yesterday, before withdrawing his article, a report from the Ministry of Defense totaling 9,861 dead and 16,153 injured.
Russia would have lost 8% of its total combat strength in two weeks according to American intelligence, 10% today.
»
Three scenarios
So how can this war turn out?
Three scenarios, according to
Le Monde
.
The first: “
a military collapse on both sides that would lead to negotiations around a partition of Ukraine.
(…)
A second scenario would see the fronts freeze in a long war, that of a slow nibbling of territories emptied of their inhabitants, punctuated by tactical setbacks and war crimes.
»
Finally, “
a Russian escalation forms the third scenario, including the use of chemical weapons, a headlong rush into the annihilation of cities, attacks on the outskirts of Ukraine.
»
Le Monde
highlights this remark by an American military specialist: “
We must fear seeing Vladimir Putin in the position of a trapped rat, wishing to inflict maximum damage on the way to his failure.
»
And the nuclear threat?
“
The use of a nuclear strike remains dismissed by Western specialists,
points out
Le Monde, but it enters into long-term calculations on both sides.
Yesterday, the Kremlin affirmed that it would only use nuclear weapons in the event of an "
existential threat
".
Assassination of Yvan Colonna: chain failures…
Also on the front page, the revelations of
Liberation
on the death of Yvan Colonna.
The newspaper was able to consult the minutes of the investigation and the hearings of its assailant.
And for
Liberation
, it is clear that there were a whole series of failures in the surveillance of the Corsican prisoner and his attacker.
“
A fatal lack of attention.
Even a contempt for the safety of the detainees
, ”says
Liberation again.
In any case, “
Corsica is under tension
”, notes
Le Figaro
on the front page.
“
First, the assassination in prison of the assassin of the prefect Érignac engages the responsibility of the State,
also points out the newspaper.
This attack, which lasted nine minutes, reveals serious dysfunctions in our prison system.
(…)
Then, the exactions that caused the aggression of Colonna in Corsica seem to have intimidated the executive power
(which promised much).
»
And
Le Figaro
wonders: “
Is it under these conditions that the status of Corsica should be reconsidered?
Everywhere, experience shows that the separatists are quickly overtaken by the separatists.
Pressed by the electoral calendar and prisoner of an obvious blackmail, the executive has put its finger in a dangerous gear...
"
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