International press review
In the spotlight: six months since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Audio 05:20
A Russian soldier walks past the damaged factory at the Azovstal metallurgical complex, in Mariupol, in the Donetsk region, Monday, June 13, 2022 (photo illustration).
PA
By: Anne Corpet Follow
5 mins
Advertising
The conflict in Ukraine enters this Monday, July 25 in its sixth month.
And on this occasion, the
New
York Times
publishes a long investigation into the headquarters of the Azovstal factory in Mariupol.
For 80 days, last March, April and May, the Russian army led the assault on this steel plant.
"
An apocalyptic siege
", writes Michael Schwirtz who contacted families who had survived this hell, but also Ukrainian soldiers and the director of the Azovstal factory.
“
When I invited the employees and their families to come and take refuge in the underground shelters of the factory, I could not imagine that soldiers would also deploy there,
” he says.
“
Azovstal has finally become a trap
”, comments the journalist, who relates the daily life of these inhabitants of Mariupol.
Bombings every five minutes, the rare supplies by helicopter during the first month, the absence of electricity, water, food, medicines, and the despair which strangles the occupants of the factory, reduced to food once a day of canned meat porridge.
“
People became irritable, fights sometimes broke out in the basements
”, testifies a survivor who remembers: “
some started drinking from the bottles of hand sanitizer, installed during the Covid pandemic.
The evacuation of civilians will finally take place in early May.
One of the survivors says: “
Above, the sky was so blue, and the factory spread out its ruins.
»
Identify perpetrators of war crimes
The
Wall Street Journal
for its part evokes the difficult investigations carried out by the Ukrainian authorities to identify the perpetrators of war crimes.
The daily dwells on the case of the small town of Yahidne, where the Russians detained more than 300 people, including 73 children crammed into the basement of a school, with less than one square meter per person.
Ten detainees died on the spot, victims of torture and ill-treatment.
The proofs of these abuses have been collected, but their perpetrators have yet to be found.
“
Some victims, still in shock from their ordeal, are reluctant to designate the Russian soldiers, fearing their return to the area
,” explains the newspaper, quoting a survivor: “
We must be careful, the war is not over
.
»
“The war continues and that scares me”
The fighting is concentrated today in the Donbass, as related by the special envoy of the
Guardian
in the area.
“
Inhabitants of towns still under Ukrainian control live in fear of the advance of the Russians
,” writes Peter Beaumont, who met Tamara, an 85-year-old woman caught in the night by an airstrike.
“
The explosion shook my apartment, it was like an earthquake
,” she said.
For six months, the old lady has been sleeping fully dressed to be able to get out as quickly as possible in the event of a bombardment.
Kramatorsk resident Olena Kolisnyk sums it up simply:
“
There is enormous tension, the war continues, and that scares me.
»
Strikes on the port of Odessa: a message from Putin
In Israel,
Haaretz
warns after the strikes on the port of Odessa.
"
Putin is sending a message by attacking Odessa, and the world had to listen
", headlines the daily, before developing: "
The missiles fired at Odessa are a reminder that even if the Istanbul agreement is implemented, it can any time to prevent ships from crossing.
This is not only a threat to the global food supply chain, but also an indication of what it is ready to do with gas in Europe this winter.
»
The newspaper argues for an international force that would secure a maritime corridor: “
NATO ships could easily demonstrate their superiority, but the countries of the Alliance are determined not to confront the Russians directly.
As long as this is the case, Putin will be able to strangle the Ukrainian economy and the world supply of food
”, estimates the daily.
European emergency plan on gas: a project on the edge of the abyss?
It is precisely to approve the gas emergency plan that EU energy ministers will meet on 26 July in Brussels.
The Commission proposal provides for a 15% reduction in gas consumption over the next eight months.
"
The project is on the brink of collapse
," said the German newspaper
Die Welt
, citing the pessimism of a diplomat.
“
The plan will fail,
he declares,
in many countries, one has the impression that the plan is above all intended to save the German economy.
There will be a lot of resistance from those who suffered from Germany's austerity policies during the euro crisis
.
»
Spain is one of these refractory states.
But
El Pais
pleads for unity: “
With the need to ensure the supply of gas and oil, and to reduce consumption, there is a risk of division and a slowdown in the energy transition in the EU.
It's time to stay the course and stick together.
In its editorial, the Spanish daily criticizes the restarting of coal-fired power stations to compensate for the scarcity of fossil fuel supplies.
He calls this decision a “
diabolical return to the past
” and concludes: “
Winning the war against Putin also means fighting for the climate.
»
Italian crisis: Vladimir Putin's bet
In Italy,
the Repubblica
analyzes the political crisis with regard to Russian ambitions.
“
The fall of Mario Draghi, a European and a convinced Atlanticist, represents an important signal for Russia.
It illustrates the first official crack in the policy of the West in the face of the invasion of Ukraine
", writes the daily which explains "
Behind the war is taking shape a suspended but total conflict between two antagonistic cultures fighting for the supremacy of their model, with democracy as the main battlefield
".
And
La Repubblica
is concerned about the emergence in Italy “
of an aggregate of forces either explicitly pro-Russian, or neutral and clearly polemical, or directly linked to Vladimir Putin.
»
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_EN
Ukraine
Russia
Energies
Italy
Newspaper