French press review
Featured: Supporting Ukraine's War Effort
Audio 04:05
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a video, April 21, 2022. AP
By: Johanne Burgell
3 mins
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More than 40 countries met yesterday at Ramstein, an American base in Germany, in order to accentuate and coordinate their military aid to kyiv.
“
The objective is in theory as simple as it is complex and dangerous to set up,”
warns
Le Figaro
.
"Provide Ukraine with the weapons and intelligence necessary for its troops to repel Russian soldiers"
, while the war has been raging for two months.
“This unprecedented mobilization has suddenly increased the pressure, once again raising the delicate question of co-belligerence and the limits to be respected between material support and direct involvement”,
analyzes
Le Figaro
.
“
Moscow got it right, immediately accusing NATO of engaging in a proxy war with the potential for escalation and all-out war.
The head of the Pentagon promised yesterday to "move heaven and earth" to help Ukraine "win the war".
A victory for the Ukrainian army: a real hypothesis
“While victory was unimaginable at the start of the conflict,”
writes
Liberation
.
“To counter the Russian offensive in the Donbass, Ukraine is calling for heavy artillery and armor.
Offensive weapons that several nations, after being reluctant, now assume to provide it.
With more than four billion dollars in aid since the start of the Biden presidency, the United States remains, by far, kyiv's main support.
The latest installment added nearly 150,000 shells and 121 "suicide drones" to the armored vehicles, helicopters and thousands of anti-aircraft or anti-tank missiles already supplied by Washington.
»
"The main reversal came yesterday from Germany, where under the pressure of public opinion, the countries of Central Europe, the arms manufacturers but also the environmentalists of his government, Chancellor Olaf Sholz ended up giving in delivery of heavy weapons. »
The German case of conscience
Berlin was fundamentally opposed to the delivery of heavy artillery to Ukraine.
But Germany was widely criticized for its inertia despite the promise made at the end of February of a change of era
.
"Faced with his accusations",
reports the newspaper
Les Echos
,
“
The German Minister of Defense, Christine Lambrecht, insists that the figures speak another language, no country having so far supplied, according to Berlin, heavy weapons.
Within
the German political class, there is concern to see the war in Ukraine spreading to the rest of Europe.
Sentiment shared by part of the population.
According to a survey by the Forsa Institute,
“51% of Germans are for the delivery of arms, 38% believe that the government is not doing enough for Ukraine, against 34% who think the opposite.
»
What is certain in any case is that Berlin could soon manage to do without Russian oil.
“A month ago it represented 25% of German consumption,
today it is just over 12%
.
»
On the ground, the Ukrainian state has reorganized
The special correspondent of the newspaper
La Croix
tells us that
“Parliament, ministries and large public companies have adapted to continue to operate.
Firstly
, Parliament, made up of 450 deputies, has an essential role.
“His approval is necessary for a multitude of decisions: for 2 months, we have voted around 250 texts”,
specifies a parliamentarian in the columns of
La Croix.
“
To limit the danger, part of the work is done in remote committees, but the procedure does not allow remote voting.
The deputies therefore meet from time to time in the hemicycle, at a time never announced in advance, for a short session where the votes are linked.
»
Another example, the Ukrainian post, which employs 60,000 employees, “
plays an essential role in distributing pensions to retirees, since part of the population is not banked.
The public company has fewer letters to carry since February 24.
But its unparalleled network is used to deliver humanitarian aid to the most remote places.
Its trucks are also used to relocate, in an emergency, companies located in the occupied territories that are moving to a safer area.
»
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