Putin visits Mariupol as a part of shock tour of occupied Ukraine

President Vladimir Putin made a shock weekend go to to the war-ravaged port of Mariupol, state media reported, the Kremlin chief’s first journey to the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine’s Donbas area because the battle started.

The go to got here after Putin traveled to Crimea on Saturday in an unannounced go to to mark the ninth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine, and simply two days after the Worldwide Felony Court docket (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for the Russian chief.

Putin is but to remark publicly on the ICC warrant, however his journeys into Ukrainian territory claimed by Russia was seen by some observers as an act of defiance.

Mariupol fell in Might after one of many warfare’s longest and bloodiest battles, marking Russia’s first main victory after it didn’t seize Kyiv and centered as a substitute on southeastern Ukraine

The Group for Safety and Cooperation and Europe (OSCE) stated Russia’s early bombing of a maternity hospital there was a warfare crime.

Putin flew by helicopter to Mariupol for “a working journey”, Russian information businesses reported citing the Kremlin.

He traveled round a number of districts of the town, making stops and speaking to residents.

It’s the closest to the entrance strains Putin has been because the year-long warfare started.

The ICC issued an arrest warrant on Friday towards Putin, accusing him of the warfare crime of illegally deporting tons of of kids from Ukraine, a extremely symbolic transfer that isolates the Russian chief additional.

Whereas Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has made quite a few journeys to the battlefield to spice up the morale of his troops and discuss technique, Putin has largely remained contained in the Kremlin whereas operating what Russia calls its “particular army operation” in Ukraine.

Kyiv and its allies say the invasion, now in its thirteenth month, is an imperialistic land seize that has killed 1000’s and displaced tens of millions of individuals in Ukraine.

‘BEAUTIFUL DOWNTOWN’

Within the Nevsky district of Mariupol, Putin visited a household of their dwelling, Russian media reported. The brand new residential neighborhood has been constructed by Russian army with first folks transferring in final September.

Residents have been “actively” returning, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, who accompanied Putin, was cited as saying by Russian businesses.

Mariupol had a inhabitants of half one million folks earlier than the warfare and was dwelling to the Azovstal metal plant, one among Europe’s largest.

“The downtown has been badly broken,” Khusnullin stated. “We need to end (reconstruction) of the middle by the top of the yr, no less than the facade half. The middle could be very lovely.”

Russian media broadcast movies exhibiting the Russian chief driving a automotive at night time by a built-up space in addition to strolling into what media stated was the philharmonic, restored in simply three months.

There was additionally no quick response to the go to from Kyiv.

Mariupol is within the Donetsk area, one of many 4 areas Putin moved in September to annex. Kyiv and its Western allies condemned the transfer as unlawful.

Donetsk, along with the Luhansk area, includes many of the Donbas industrialized a part of Ukraine that has seen the most important battle in Europe for generations.

Russian media reported on Sunday that Putin additionally met with the highest commander of his army operation in Ukraine, together with Chief of the Basic Employees Valery Gerasimov who’s accountable for Moscow’s warfare in Ukraine.