Newspaper headlines: Kyiv faces siege and UK under fire over refugees

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By BBC News
Staff

The coming battle for Ukraine's capital and the ongoing fallout dominates the headlines.

The headline on the front page of The Times reads: "Kyiv ready to face the onslaught". A woman in army fatigues - a gun held across her body - is shown standing in a trench, dug by Ukrainian fighters. The paper says the city now awaits "the seemingly inevitable arrival of Russian tanks".

The i's front page is taken up by a picture of two men standing on a train station platform in Kyiv with pained expressions on their faces. The paper says the Russian military are "systematically targeting people" who try to escape the siege and that the streets on the city's outskirts are "littered with corpses".

President Putin could be developing a "plot to blackmail the world", according to the Daily Express. The paper says Ukrainian spy chiefs suspect the Russian leader of planning a "false flag" attack on the Chernobyl nuclear site which he will then try to blame on Ukraine. It says the attack would be intended to "hold the world to ransom" and "stop the West halting his invasion".

EPA

People set up a barrier made out of sandbags in downtown Kyiv

A call for a "massive boost" in defence spending from former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt leads the Daily Telegraph. Writing in the paper, Hunt declares: "Peace comes from strength, not luck". But the paper also says it understands Chancellor Rishi Sunak is holding firm against calls for a rise in the defence budget.

The Guardian reports that French President Emmanuel Macron has savaged the UK government's response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis. Speaking at the end of a EU summit in Versailles, Mr Macron reportedly said the UK had brought additional misery to those fleeing the conflict by insisting visa applications to the UK are made in Paris and Brussels.

The front page of the Daily Mirror features the words "Hope amid horror" above a photo of a young Ukrainian woman who has safely given birth to a baby girl. The paper says Marianna Podgurskaya - who still has visible cuts and bruises on her face - had to flee from a bomb blast on her maternity ward in Mariupol two days ago.

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There are "fresh fears" for the Queen's health, says the Daily Mail. It comes after an announcement that the 95-year-old, who recently had Covid, will not be attending Monday's Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey. The paper says the service has always been "so important" the Queen and that she is understood to be "extremely regretful" about missing it.

The Sun leads with criticism of Prince Harry's decision not to travel from California for his grandfather's memorial service at the end of this month. The prince has reportedly said he would feel "unsafe" making the journey after losing his personal security, but the paper calls it an "astonishing snub" to his family.

The sports sections continue to be dominated by Chelsea and the fallout from the sanctions imposed on the football club's Russian owner, Roman Abramovich. The Telegraph says that Chelsea stars are exploring potential escape routes after company credit cards were frozen, while the Mirror reports that Chelsea's manager, Thomas Tuchel, has talked of players being "frightened" about the future.

The i says that club officials have begged the government to ease financial curbs, while The Guardian says it's the end of the "Abramovich era" but suggests that a fast sale of the club can "limit Chelsea's woes".

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