The Euro 2024 football championship ended for Ukraine on Wednesday. At the beginning of the tournament, our colleague Till Mayer wrote how it was perceived by soldiers on the front (source here). But how do people in the country see the Euro Cup? Does it even play a role in wartime? British photographer Richard Morgan collected impressions of him in Odessa. The result was a photographic report that has now been published by the “Guardian” (source here).
The pictures show football coach Dima, who leads a youth team. He says many talented footballers have left the country and now live and play in Western Europe. He liked the European Championship, but found it difficult to follow it because of the war. Due to Russian attacks on infrastructure, repeated power outages occur. The morning of the group’s last game, explosions are already heard, during the game the signal is cut off and the harsh reality of war returns.
The photographer writes that his report is not a story about how MS offers people “some relief from the harsh reality of war.”, because it is impossible to escape the horror. Rather, it attempts to show where the tournament is actually visible.
Here is little Andriy in his new Ukrainian tracksuit, a gift from his mother before the Euros. There is student Valeriia, who goes to art school on the day of Ukraine’s first match with her hair dyed in the national colors. Or there is the guy who sells Ukrainian flags and wears a shirt with the number of French international Kylian Mbappé.
The euro, the photographer writes, can be seen in Odessa on small but visible signs and images: in beer advertising, in window decoration or on hundreds of billboards. But there she only plays a small role. Because most of the messages revolve around what has been a cruel daily life for the local population for more than two years: the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
The most important news of the day.
- Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko has held key positions in the government and presidential administration. “Efficiency must be greatly increased if we are to survive this fierce battle,” he said, according to state news agency Belta. More here.
- After the elimination of the Ukrainians in the preliminary round of the European Football Championship, President Volodymyr Zelenskyj thanked the team for their performance. “Despite the disappointing result, you fought for our country,” the head of state wrote on Wednesday on the X short message service. More information here.
- According to its outgoing secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, NATO does not expect “major advances” from the Russian armed forces in Ukraine. “They tried again to launch an offensive this spring and summer, but so far they have had only marginal success,” he told AFP. More in our news blog.
- Ukrainian border guards prevented two dozen recruits from fleeing the war-torn country. The group was arrested near the town of Kelmenzi, on the border with Moldova, in the Chernivtsi region of western Ukraine, authorities said Thursday.
- The EU has reached a long-term security cooperation and support agreement with Ukraine, which has been attacked by Russia. The document was signed on Thursday on the sidelines of the EU summit in Brussels by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as the head of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the EU Council, Charles Michel.
- Chancellor Olaf Scholz calls for fairer burden sharing when accepting Ukrainian refugees in Europe. The question of who does what is not clear, said Scholz upon his arrival at the EU summit in Brussels.
- A chemical factory in the Tver region of northwestern Russia was the target of a drone attack, according to a media report. State news agency RIA reported that the attack took place on Thursday night, citing local authorities.
- According to a media report, the EU will re-impose tariffs on imports of sugar and eggs from Ukraine starting Friday. The amount will be 89 euros per ton, the Financial Times reports, citing people familiar with the process. The EU had decided to apply a tariff reduction to support war-ravaged Ukrainian agriculture.
- Russian state news agency Tass, citing the Russian Navy, reports on a training maneuver of the Russian guided missile cruiser “Varyag” in the Mediterranean. The exercises focused on deterring a massive drone attack, the Navy command said.
- Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia call on the EU to build a defense line along the border with Russia and Belarus. The structure “will take into account the urgent need to protect the EU from military and hybrid threats,” says the letter from the four heads of State and Government.
