Welcome to this first edition of What about Ukraine?, a newsletter that will help you keep updated about what has been said recently about Ukraine in Ukraine, and in the international media. 

It has become clear that the full-scale invasion Russia launched against Ukraine in February 2022 is not confined to these two countries. It’s a European war, with a wide impact on the European Union and the rest of the world, and also:
it is a war of information.

Fact-checking has become central to understanding what is happening in Ukraine, as well as spotting and spreading high-quality journalism. It helps professionals from everywhere build a stronger knowledge on Ukraine, and understand how this war is affecting democracies.

This is what The Europe-Ukraine Desk is about, and our weekly newsletter will rise to this challenge.

You will read news about Ukraine published in Bulgaria, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy and Spain. 

You will also discover each week one article published in Ukrainian that the Europe-Ukraine Desk has translated into English. This week it’s a rare piece from Ukrayinska Pravda about the military operations on the Kherson Region Frontline, from the perspectives of the soldiers at the front.

Feel free to share this piece, use it or quote it! Same with the profile we will share every week from Ukrainian journalists or media actors, that you think might be interesting for a newsroom you know.

Have a good read!

Sarah-Lou Lepers
Editor of this week's edition

Bulgaria

Despite political controversy, Bulgaria supplies missile parts to Ukraine

On 26 September the Bulgarian parliament approved the supply to Ukraine of defective missiles for the S-300 anti-aircraft system, which can be used as spare parts. According to the Bulgarian Chief of Staff, Admiral Emil Eftimov, the supply consists of "a few missiles" no longer usable by the Bulgarian air defence, but still useful for the Ukrainian war effort (Mediapool).

This is not Bulgaria's first military supply to Ukraine, but the decision has sparked fierce controversy in the Sofia parliament. The new majority supports the policy of military support for Kyiv: however, the Socialist Party and the nationalist "Vazrazhdane'' movement - which has accused the government of "high treason" - remain vehemently opposed to any military aid (Sega).

Despite its pro-Russian tradition, Bulgaria is strengthening its military support for Ukraine: on 1 October, Sofia announced its participation in the "Defence Industries Alliance", an initiative promoted by president Zelensky to turn Ukraine "into a key producer of weapons and defence systems". (Trud)

France

French writer with Russian roots Emmanuel Carrère is rethinking his identity

French author of the 2011 novel ‘Limonov’, Emmanuel Carrère, declared in an interview on national radio that the Russian full-scale invasion in Ukraine has pushed him to redefine his own identity: “I come from a Georgian and Russian family, and it's completely the Russian side that won out. My mother was a Russian specialist. I grew up with Russian culture and language, and the Georgian side of the family had little place. Do you know many Georgian writers? It's part of what we now call Russian imperialism. It overshadowed everything that wasn't Russian.” (France Inter)

According to a recent edition of the TV show ‘Mapping the world’, the 21st century is the century of Information wars. In a 12-minute video, the show explained this analysis with debunked fake news used in Russian war against Ukraine (Arte)

No integration of Ukraine in the EU is possible without a profound rethinking of our European Agricultural Policy, says EU Representative Christophe Clergeau (Le Télégramme)

Hungary

Hungary questions Ukraine's borders and EU membership talks

“We have never recognised the occupation of any territory of Ukraine,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in an interview (CNN)

While a few days later, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said that "we don't know how much territory this country has, because there is still a war on." He also questioned whether the EU should "seriously think about membership of a country at war." (Kossuth Rádió)

According to press reports, the European Commission is considering unblocking 13bn euros in EU funds to Hungary, which are currently frozen because of concerns over the country’s rule of law. Two sources told the British daily Financial Times that the intention behind this was partly to secure Orban's support for a budget increase, which would go hand in hand with significant aid to Ukraine. (Financial Times)

The EU is also seeking to win Budapest's approval to start membership talks for Kyiv, according to Reuters.

Italy

Italy renews support for Ukraine, but internal issues need to be faced

Italy’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajani, in Kyiv for the EU council,  announced a new package of aid for Ukraine, after his bilateral meeting with president Volodymyr Zelensky. There’s “no peace without justice”, he said, renewing Italian support (Ansa).

Tajani made public the new weapons supply - expected by the end of the year - before any declaration by the Minister of Defence, Guido Crosetto. It was probably supposed to remain confidential for economic, political and electoral purposes (La Repubblica).

The announced aid would be the eighth package from Italy, but the country has provided less military support than many other large NATO countries (Il Sole 24 Ore).

Approving aid to Ukraine is becoming increasingly difficult, both in the US and in EU countries. But surveys show that European public opinion remains supportive of Ukraine, except in Italy, where the population gives the lowest level of consensus for sending arms, among the five largest EU nations (Il Post).

Tajani also spoke of the Italian role in the reconstruction of Odesa’s Cathedral, after the building was bombed by Russia last July. At the beginning of September a delegation of experts and politicians carried out their first inspection. Architect Stefano Boeri, a member of the delegation, mentioned in an interview the connections the city has with Italy (La Stampa).

Spain

From left to right: The Change in Russian Propaganda in Spanish

An interesting piece analyses discourses of official Russian channels like RT, showing that they have adapted in the past months to Spanish-speaking audiences, and started addressing far-right audiences in Spain, as well as anti-colonialist movements in Latin America (El Confidencial)

This shift is continuing, as it was first reported by the American media in August 2022, shortly after the Russian full-scale invasion was launched (New York Times)

According to analysts interviewed by El Confidencial, one motivation for this Russian propaganda is the importance of conservative Hispanic audiences in the United States of America, where Latinos now represent the second-largest voting group in the US (ABC News)

This is also a threat to elections in the European Union, as the EU Commission has asked digital platforms to fight Russian propaganda before next June’s European elections (El País)

The Europe-Ukraine Desk curated this newsletter.

This week's edition has been composed by our Media Network Managers all over Europe: Oksana Mamchenkova, Kornelia Kiss, Marika Ikonomu, Francesco Martino, Fermin Torrano and Sarah-Lou Lepers.

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See you next week!