The humorous cartoons are amusing and useful to identify the disinformation distilled by Putin and his allies. We can also salute the courage of the defenders of Ukraine, the Azov regiment and those who joined them to defend the Ukrainian territory in its original integrity, before the unilateral annexations of 2014, Crimea and Donbass, made by Putin.
The two videos below were published in a French media, TF1. Their interest is to give information about the situation in the Azovstal plant and the name of their leader. The texts of the articles are translations by DeppL.
https://www.tf1info.fr/international/video-le-supplice-d-azovstal-en-photos-2219455.html Published on May 11, 2022
The Azov regiment has broadcast on the networks images of wounded soldiers in the Azovstal factory in Mariupol, the symbol of Ukrainian resistance.
Men who survive in catastrophic conditions.
These are the new "broken faces" of the war in Ukraine. Bruised faces and mutilated limbs. These unpublished images published on Tuesday night are those of members of the Azov regiment. They are holed up in the basement of the Azovstal factory since the beginning of the conflict more than two months ago.
Constantly bombarded by the Russian army, the last fighters lack food and medicine. "We are in very difficult conditions, superhuman. Despite this, we continue to defend our land. Our duty is to defend the homeland and restore its integrity," reaffirms Valery Paditel, an officer of the Azovstal plant.
More than a thousand soldiers, including hundreds of wounded, are still trapped there. But according to Kiev, there are no women, children or elderly people left on the site. The last civilians have indeed been evacuated in recent days. The fate of the soldiers of Azovstal is more uncertain than ever, while a Russian offensive is not excluded.
The TF1 Info editorial staff
-----
https://www.tf1info.fr/international/guerre-ukraine-russie-resistance-a-l-usine-forteresse-d-azovstal-des-bombes-incendiaires-utilisees-2219828.html Published on 15 May 2022
The Russians have again used firebombs in an "abusive" way, according to the municipality of Marioupol.
The Avozstal fortress factory was bombed with this type of ammunition.
Aerial images broadcast on 15 May show that the siege of the Azovstal fortress factory is continuing and that the Russians are trying by all means to overcome the Ukrainian resistance that has taken refuge there. In this huge steel complex located on the shores of Marioupol, a few hundred Ukrainian soldiers are resisting the siege by Russian forces. The latter are pounding the fighters of the Azov regiment, still entrenched in a labyrinth of tunnels dating from the Soviet era, almost without interruption.
This Sunday, the Russian artillery has apparently used incendiary bombs in this assault. "After detonation, these will cause a more lasting fire than with simple explosives, creating sheets of fire, which will last a long time and which are used to prohibit an area, or at least to damage an opposing device", explains Léo Péria, a researcher in armament at the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri).
The use of this type of ammunition "is theoretically governed by certain conventions". "However, they say that they should not be used in a situation where civilians are supposed to be present. The concern is that the images of the moment show phosphorus weapons. These are weapons that are considered to be those used to light up the night. And in this context, they are not prohibited by the Convention on Conventional Weapons", according to this specialist in the use of conventional weapons.
However, the impact of this type of bombs can be devastating: "Phosphorus flakes create very strong heat, even fires if they find a flammable deposit on the ground, and in the Azovstal scenario, the Russians can smoke the air outlets of the tunnels located under the factory and asphyxiate those who are inside."
For days, Azovstal's relatives and some fighters have been making one appeal after another for help, sometimes taking Turkey, sometimes the United States, now China to task. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Verechtchouk said Thursday that Kiev was negotiating with the Russians for the exfiltration of "38 seriously wounded fighters".
The editorial staff TF1 Info