Kiev, four letters in many newspapers this Wednesday morning. ” Putin engages the siege of Kiev”, we read in one of the Figaro which shows us a cloud of smoke in the sky of the capital. This one is from the Ukrainian TV tower, targeted on Tuesday 1er March, by the Russian strikes. “Kiev awaits the onslaught », in One of the World which shows us for its part defensive positions dug into the ground, a rocket launcher and many rockets. ” Kiev, on the edge of the abyss » also on the front page of The crosswhich explains to us that the Russian army yesterday accelerated its military offensive, almost encircling the Ukrainian capital, at the cost of new civilian casualties. »
And all are now waiting for a decisive battle. This is ” the time of suffering », warns Le Figaro. ” Since the Moscow army, supposedly modernized into tactical rapid attack units, has disappointed, the next step should see it return to what it does best. “says the newspaper. To know ” a simple and brutal approach “, that ” applied to madness ” for example during the Chechen wars during which Russia “ killed up to 300,000 people, i.e. a quarter of the population “. But if we observe the 65km heavy armament column approaching Kiev », then yes, we know that « soon, the suffering for the Ukrainian population will really begin “, and one ” painful observation of powerlessness among Westerners », concludes Le Figaro
The concern of French companies
For their part, the Westerners are increasing the sanctions and growing, with them, the fears of French companies. ” Auchan, Decathlon, Renault, the concern of French companies in Russia to read in The Parisian Today in Francebut also in The echoes. ” Multinationals with operations in Ukraine or Russia flock to legal advice », Explains the economic daily. Those who work in connection with Russia ” want to understand the ever-changing prohibited list “, because any violation is ” liable to penalties “. The Customs Code, for example, provides for five years in prison for the leaders of a company that violates the ban, a lawyer tells us. For companies present in Ukraine, there are also legal risks: “ Continuing their activity in a war zone can lead to endangerment of employees, sanctioned by the Penal Code “.
And of course there are the human risks too. So, ” flee or stay “, here is now the “ terrible dilemma of tricolor SMEs in Ukraine » still observe The echoes a few pages later. “Si the big groups have repatriated their executives and their families, many entrepreneurs have been forced to stay because they have production units and they considered that they could not leave in the eyes of the Ukrainians “says an entrepreneur. And many “of them are reduced” to pilot on sight, whether it is a question of closing the sites or continuing to operate the factories », specify The echoes. Like this garment maker from the North of France who “prefers to remain anonymous so as not to frighten its customers “: Its factory located thirty kilometers from Lviv, in western Ukraine has ” resumed its activity on Monday afternoon with 50% of the workforce “.
Anastasia, ” refugee thanks to Tinder »
On the front line, the newspapers still speak of civilians trying to flee the fighting, but they also show the faces of the first refugees to arrive in France. Like Anastasia, ” refugee near Paris thanks to Tinder “. She is one of the hundred Ukrainians already welcomed in France and she poses on the front page of the Parisianalongside her autistic daughter Kira, 6. The Parisian trace “ its long road, from Kiev to Suresnes where she is greeted by Antoine, a 29-year-old Frenchman whom she met on Tinder three months ago when she was vacationing in France. Like Anastasia and Kira, there are already 700,000 Ukrainian refugees who have fled their country, alert Release. On the front page, Libé titles precisely on ” this heartbreak “, the ” panic scenes “, the ” separated families “because yesterday again, Tuesday, throughout the country” frightened crowds tried to catch a train to escape the bombardments “.