Newspaper headlines: 'Putin's nuclear threat' and 'Russians see red' - BBC News

Newspaper headlines: 'Putin's nuclear threat' and 'Russians see red'

  • Published
1px transparent line
Image source, SPUTNIK

Many of the front pages focus on the international reaction to Russian President Vladimir Putin's thinly-veiled threat to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

"We won't be cowed" is the headline in the Daily Mail, which says Liz Truss delivered a "defiant riposte" to him when she spoke at the UN General Assembly.

The Guardian says US President Joe Biden used his address to try to unite the international community by painting Mr Putin's "imperial ambitions" as a threat to the UN's founding values.

In its editorial, the paper says the Russian leader's threats and his plan to mobilise military reservists indicate one thing - that he is losing the war. Having "blundered" into a longer conflict than he expected, the Guardian says he's now reliant on a "demoralised, poorly co-ordinated and corrupt Russian army, outlasting Ukraine's will to fight for its survival".

The Daily Telegraph says the plan to call up reservists caused panic in Russia - with many young men rushing to flee the country. All airline tickets to visa-free countries sold out within hours of the announcement, the paper reports.

Writing in the paper, an anonymous reservist explains how he dreads receiving draft papers, saying dozens of his friends are desperately trying to travel anywhere they can to avoid being called-up.

Several papers report on the government's ambition for all patients in England to be given a GP appointment within two weeks.

The Daily Express says the Health Secretary Therese Coffey will promise a "laser-like" focus on the needs of patients when she gives details of the plans later.

But the Daily Mirror says GP leaders have slammed the plan, which they say will have minimal impact on patients, while adding to the intense workload of family doctors.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, former health secretary Jeremy Hunt urges Ms Coffey not to focus on short-term measures designed to "keep the NHS quiet" at the expense of long-term reforms. Top of her list should be workforce reforms to end the shortages seen in nearly every speciality, he says.

The Telegraph also reports that ministers are proposing to "rip up" green planning laws to encourage more house building. The paper reports that environmental rules will be relaxed in areas designated "investment zones" for developers. It says the move could mean the end of EU directives designed to protect animals including bats, newts and toads.