CNN
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Vladimir Putin has made a shock go to to Russian-occupied Mariupol, his first go to to territory captured by his forces within the year-long battle.
The go to was an obvious act of defiance, coming simply days after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him.
It additionally prompted outrage from Ukraine – the protection ministry in contrast Putin to a “thief” visiting “under the cover of night” – with the town having been decreased to ruins in Russia’s offensive.
Putin was flown into Mariupol by helicopter and toured districts across the metropolis in a automobile, footage launched by Russian authorities confirmed.
The Russian president is proven assembly seemingly shocked residents. Putin tells one man “we need to start getting to know each other better.”
The Kremlin insisted the go to was “spontaneous.” It shouldn’t be clear when it occurred, though on Saturday Putin visited Crimea to mark the ninth anniversary of its annexation.
All of the footage launched of Putin’s go to is after darkish, a attainable approach for the authorities to hide injury.
News of the go to comes after the ICC issued arrest warrants on Friday for Putin and Russian official Maria Lvova-Belova for an alleged scheme to deport Ukrainian youngsters to Russia. Putin is but to touch upon the warrant.
The go to is especially provocative to Ukrainians as Mariupol was lengthy a symbol of resistance that has witnessed some of probably the most intense preventing since Russia launched its invasion.
During the journey, the Kremlin stated Putin additionally examined the shoreline of Mariupol, visiting a yacht membership and theater constructing.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, who accompanied him, spoke intimately to Putin about “ongoing construction and restoration work” within the metropolis.
In the video, Khusnullin tells Putin: “There is a plan to reconstruct it by the end of the third year. We plan for it to be a fully functional airport capable of making flights to all cities of Russia and abroad.”
The Kremlin added that Putin held a gathering on the command publish of the particular army operation – Russia’s description of its invasion – in Rostov-on-Don.
An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Mykhailo Podolyak, slammed the “cynicism” and “lack of remorse” over Putin’s go to.
“The criminal always returns to the crime scene,” Podolyak stated on Twitter.
Mariupol, a port metropolis on the Sea of Azov, is situated in Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast and has been beneath direct Russian management since May 2022.
It was in Mariupol that Russian forces carried out some of their most infamous strikes, together with an attack on a maternity ward final March and the bombing of a theater which pressured lots of of civilians to hunt refuge.
Mariupol grew to become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance throughout weeks of relentless Russian assaults final yr. Famously, even when most of the town had fallen, its defenders held out on the Azovstal metal plant for weeks earlier than the stronghold lastly fell.
Defense analysts beforehand advised CNN that Russian forces tried to flatten Mariupol to make the town “easier to control.”
Of the 450,000 individuals who lived within the metropolis earlier than the warfare, greater than a 3rd have already left.