The following are the main stories in Friday’s newspapers.

Times of Malta leads with Finance Minister Clyde Caruana’s statement during a debate on Thursday that the war in Ukraine has already cost Malta €200 million.

In another story, the newspaper quotes Russian President Vladimir Putin warning that western penalties against Moscow for its military incursion in Ukraine would destabilise the global energy and food markets and vowed the country would emerge stronger from the crisis.

The Malta Independent leads with a report on Thursday’s leaders' debate at the university.

In-Nazzjon also leads with a report on the debate saying it was a victory for PN leader Bernard Grech over Prime Minister Robert Abela.

L-Orizzont says the opposite - that while Abela was decisive, Grech got stuck, not knowing how much his party’s proposals would cost.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.