How did foreign mass media react to the missile attack on Ukraine?

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On January 14, Russia carried out another terrorist act in the form of a rocket fire on the civilian infrastructure of Ukrainian cities. We analyzed how the media of different countries reacted to this event and what key details were highlighted among others.

How did foreign mass media react to the missile attack on Ukraine?, The Ukrainian Review

The result of the Russian missile attack on the Dnipro

Brief reference: Russia launched 38 missiles of various types at Ukrainian cities — 25 of them were shot down by air defence. As a result of the enemy attack, 26 people died and another 80 were injured to various degrees. The city of Dnipro suffered the most damage, where one of the rockets hit an apartment building. A lot of people were under the ruins. On the evening of January 16, there were 40 dead, including 1 child, and 74 wounded.

 

What did America say?

The American mass media most promptly reported on the tragedy that happened in Ukraine. The main topic that journalists wrote about was the enemy rocket hitting a house in Dnipro. Also, there are few mentions of damage caused by rockets in other cities.

The focus of the articles was on the injured people and local residents who came to the rescuers’ aid. There are many terrible photos in the materials.

“Residents of the city had turned out in numbers to help remove burned out cars and debris from in front of the building to clear the path for fire trucks and rescuers to come in and raise their ladders”, The New York Times.

How did foreign mass media react to the missile attack on Ukraine?, The Ukrainian Review

Man do not hold back tears while rescuers sorting through the debris

It is interesting that journalists did not condemn the actions of the aggressor country. Only “The Wall Street Journal” tried to call the actions of the occupiers terrorist, submitting a comment by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskiy, where he directly says so.

 

What did Great Britain say?

British media were excellent by the completeness of information submission. In addition to Dnipro, journalists also talked about other cities of Ukraine that were affected on January 14. One of the focuses of the articles was the impact of shelling on the country’s energy situation.

Also, the British media wrote about the fall of an enemy missile on the territory of Moldova. They show the country’s position regarding everything that happened.

How did foreign mass media react to the missile attack on Ukraine?, The Ukrainian Review

The demolition of the ruins of the house continues

“Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita decried the violation of Moldovan airspace and said in a statement: “There is no political, historical or moral justification for the killing of peaceful residents and attacks on infrastructure”,Reuters.

Journalists are not sure of russia’s intentions about the missile hitting the Dnipro apartment building. This is how the BBC writes about it:

“On a day when Russia seemed intent, once again, on targeting Ukraine’s energy grid, this could have been one of the less accurate missiles in Russia’s arsenal, or something brought down by Ukraine’s air defenses — although on the face of it, this seems a less likely explanation”.

 

What did Poland say?

Poland was the boldest in its statements. For example, this is what a journalist of one of the news digests dedicated to the tragedy of January 14 writes:

“As Russia’s war with Ukraine continues putting more lives at peril, the UNHCR confirms that 6,952 civilians have perished since the beginning of the Russian invasion and 11,144 have been wounded”.

How did foreign mass media react to the missile attack on Ukraine?, The Ukrainian Review

Dismantling the ruins of the building continues, about 550 people are working

In general, Polish mass media are distinguished by their sympathy and directness of statements regarding russian aggression. They constantly monitor the situation and update information as it is received.

 

What did France say?

The French mass media reacted rather “coldly” to the shelling of Ukrainian cities on January 14. The main emphases in their materials are “energy difficulties” and military aid from England. 

How did foreign mass media react to the missile attack on Ukraine?, The Ukrainian Review

As of January 16, 40 people have already killed

“Emergency blackouts in ‘most regions’ of Ukraine due to Russian shelling, minister says”, — title “France 24”.

“War in Ukraine: Russian missiles hit multiple cities, UK to supply tanks”, — title “Le Monde”.

Regarding the victims of rocket fire, journalists limited themselves to simple numbers. Apart from Zelenskiy’s comments, regarding this situation, the shelling was not openly condemned.

 

What did China say?

China showed the least interest in the terrorist attack on January 14. In most of the media that we looked at, nothing was written about Ukraine’s tragedy at all.

The Chinese “South China Morning Post” in its article briefly described all the events that happened on the day of the shelling. In the title, they, like the French, singled out England’s provision of tanks for Ukraine. Also, it is indicative that the main photo of the article is illustrative, and it does not show what destruction russia has caused to our country.

“UK’s PM Sunak pledges tanks, artillery for Ukraine as Russian missiles hit Kyiv infrastructure”, — title.

It seems that such “disinterest” of the Chinese media is an effect of the uncertainty of their country’s policy on this issue.

 

The photos used are from the official Telegram page of the Dnipropetrovsk Military Administration

 

Tetiana Stelmakh