What the papers say – March 13

Many of Sunday front pages react to the newly announced Government scheme to pay Britons £350 per month to provide accommodation to people fleeing the war in Ukraine.

“Putin wipes out entire city”, declares the front page of The Sunday Times. The front page also points to an investigation about the Russian media mogul and close friend of Boris Johnson, Evgeny Lebedev, with the paper claiming British intelligence warned the Prime Minister about him two years ago.

The Independent carries a report on the 200 Ukrainian civilians who have taken refuge in the bunker of a church in Mariupol which has been under siege for weeks.

The Sunday Telegraph leads with the Government’s new scheme to help people fleeing the Russian invasion. The Homes for Ukraine programme will allow individuals, charities, community groups and businesses to bring people escaping the war to safety and pay them to provide accommodation.

Sunday People and the Sunday Express similarly carry the story on the initiative to help people fleeing the war. People includes in its report comments from Novichok poison survivor Charlie Rowley, whose life was “ruined by Russian secret agents” in 2018, as he urges “big-hearted Brits to take in Ukrainians fleeing the war”. The paper adds that Mr Rowley was “sickened” by Home Secretary Priti Patel’s “Russian spies” excuse for ministers’ reluctance to offer visas to refugees.

The Observer also splashes with the Homes for Ukraine programme, adding Ms Patel has been left “humiliated” after a “fortnight of failure”.

The Sunday Mirror reports on the “100,000 forgotten Ukraine orphans” who are stranded in the country.

And the Daily Star Sunday splashes with the “intergalactic exclusive” that the “Men in Black” are real.