The front pages in Britain and around the world are devoted to the shocking events in Ukraine, with graphic images of the destruction unleashed by Vladimir Putin.
A photograph of a woman with a bloodied and bandaged head in the wake of a Russian attack dominates the front of the Guardian with the headline “Putin invades”.
The picture appears set to become a defining image of the conflict and features on many other front pages, including the Mirror which juxtaposes the injured civilian with the “power-crazed” Russian president: “Her blood … his hands”.
The Sun goes for almost exactly the same formulation with “Her blood on his hands”.
The closeup image of the injured woman is used in the same way by the German tabloid, Bild, which goes with the headline: “Putins blood”.
The Express also has the picture and the headline “Redrawing map of Europe in blood”.
The Daily Mail, meanwhile, reports that “Putin to seize capital in days”, and also features a photograph of a mother and her young child as they attempt to flee Kyiv by bus.
The Telegraph goes with the headline “New cold war as Putin strikes”, and also carries an opinion piece by its columnist Fraser Nelson calling this “Europe’s 9/11”. He says “naivety” has left us exposed to the threat of Putin, which was hiding in plain sight.
The Financial Times’ splash headline says “Putin’s forces storm Ukraine” and it also carries a story on its front noting that former leaders of Italy and Austria are among those now resigning from the boards of Russian companies.
The Metro has “War in Europe” which is a label that translates very well across the continent. Among the other papers choosing this stark headline is Süddeutsche Zeitung: “Krieg in Europa”.
The French paper Libération has a similarly simple headline on its front page laid over a picture of a huge explosion somewhere in Ukraine: “L’impensable”, it says, “the unthinkable” fact of a major war in Europe.
In Spain, El Pais’s front page says “Putin lanza un ataque masivo contra Ucrania”, or, “Putin launches massive attack against Ukraine”.
The American papers managed to report the story in their Thursday editions and the New York Times’ headline reads “Russia attacks as Putin warns world; Biden vows to hold him accountable”.
The LA Times says “Ukraine under attack”.
