Newspaper headlines: 'A dark day for Europe' as Putin invades

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By BBC News
Staff
STATE BORDER GUARD SERVICE

A number of front pages feature a picture of a Ukrainian woman - a teacher named Helena - with blood on her face and bandages around her head after a block of flats was hit in a Russian airstrike.

"Her blood on his hands" says the Daily Mirror; the Sun chooses the same headline.

"Redrawing map of Europe in blood" is the main headline in the Daily Express, while the i newspaper describes the invasion as "Ukraine's agony".

According to the Guardian, Ukraine is fighting for its survival, as Moscow embarks on a dangerous new era of imperial expansion.

Writing in the paper, Prof Timothy Garton Ash from the University of Oxford describes Russia as "the world's largest rogue state" commanded by a president who has "departed the realm of rational calculation".

The Daily Star depicts President Putin as Adolf Hitler, while the Sun says he has succumbed to despotic madness.

A report in the Times says Western intelligence sources have expressed doubts that the Ukrainian military could significantly slow down Russian troops advancing towards Kyiv.

The Daily Mail has spoken to security officials who believe the capital could fall in as little as 96 hours, while the Daily Telegraph says the Pentagon believes the Kremlin's clear intention is a race to Kyiv to overthrow President Zelensky.

The Sun reports that Ukrainian soldiers used British rockets to protect the city of Kharkiv. The paper says at least four Russian tanks were destroyed with the shoulder-launched guided missiles. Britain shipped 2,000 of the light anti-tank weapons to Ukraine, and trained soldiers how to fire them.

In an editorial, the Telegraph argues that the West has been in denial about the threat that Putin poses. The paper says "our leaders may be finally realising the cost of their post Cold War complacency, but it has come rather late."

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For the Financial Times the attack has "shattered the dream Europe dared to nurture for three decades, that war on this scale would never again be witnessed on the continent".

The paper says Western countries need to rediscover the will to contain Moscow, as they did during the Cold War, by using economic and financial sanctions to maximum effect. And they must be prepared to bear economic hardship to defend their freedoms and values.

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Writing about the sanctions in the Telegraph, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss says the UK must be ready to accept short-term pain for long-term gain, in the knowledge that the pain felt by Putin will be exponentially higher.

She also says she summoned Russia's ambassador yesterday and told him "he should be ashamed and Russia had lost its last shred of credibility."

The Times says Russia must be made to pay a heavy price, even though the sanctions will cause a real pain in the West.

The paper says the cost of fuel will rise; companies trading with Russia will have their markets cut off; food will be more expensive, and bread could be in short supply around the world, because Ukraine and Russia between them account for about 30% of wheat exports.