In the Avignon rape trial, the main defendant Dominique Pelicot has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. Over a period of 10 years he drugged his former wife Gisèle Pelicot on a regular basis and offered her for rape to strangers on the Internet. Through video recordings 50 of these men were identified and tried, almost all of whom were also given harsh sentences. A glance at Europe's opinion pages shows why the case cannot be forgottenow.

At his annual press conference, question and answer session and public phone-in, Russian President Vladimir Putin once again presented a positive picture of the situation in his country: the economy is doing well and the Russian army is continuing to 'liberate' territory in the Ukraine war, he said. Commentators shake their heads in dismay.

The transit contract that regulates the supply of Russianatural gas through Ukraine expires on 1 January. Russia's state-owned company Gazprom uses this route to supply pro-Russian Transnistria with energy free of charge - but also to deliver gas to a large power plant in Tiraspol which then sells electricity in the Republic of Moldova. Both parts of the country haveow declared a state of emergency.

Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte and several European leaders met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the EU summit in Brussels on Wednesday evening. According to Rutte, the meeting focused on how to put Kyiv 'in a position of strength'. Commentators question how this can be achieved.