Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol over the weekend, inspecting reconstruction work and visiting the home of at least one local resident, the Kremlin said in a statement Sunday.
Putin arrived on Saturday night in the port city that has been under Russian control since May and was illegally annexed by Moscow in September.
“As befits a thief, Putin visited Ukrainian Mariupol, under the cover of night,” tweeted the Ukraine Defense Ministry. “First, it’s safer. Also, the darkness allows him to highlight what he wants to show, and keeps the city his army completely destroyed and the few surviving inhabitants far away in the eyes.”
Putin flew in a helicopter, and then drove through the city inspecting reconstruction work in several neighborhoods, the statement said. It’s Putin’s second journey to the newly annexed territoriesthis time after a visit to Crimea on Saturday to mark the ninth anniversary of Russia’s illegal annexation of the Black Sea peninsula.
The news comes less than two days after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, an official in his office responsible for children’s rights. The court cited their alleged involvement in the illegal deportation of children from the occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia.
PUTIN ARREST WARRANT:Biden calls arrest warrant for Putin ‘reasonable’; mass attacks hit Ukraine
Mariupol remains a symbol of Ukrainian resistance
Mariupol, in the Sea of Azov in the bitterly contested Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, was left devastated by relentless Russian bombing in the first weeks of the war. A Russian airstrike hit a maternity hospital less than two weeks after Russian troops attacked its neighbor, and a week later around 300 people were reported killed in a bombing of a theater that served as the city’s largest bomb shelter. . The evidence suggested that the real death toll may be closer to 600.
The fierce battle for the city finally ended when a small group of Ukrainian fighters surrendered after holding out for 83 days at the sprawling Azovstal steel works in eastern Mariupol. Their determination symbolizes Ukrainian resilience in the face of Moscow’s aggression.
The city, once home to more than 430,000 people, has been under direct Russian control since May.
MARIUPOL THEATER BOMBING:The explosion was a deliberate war crime
LIFE HAS BEEN SUFFERING:Illustrated stories from the siege of Mariupol.
Russian official: The annexation of Mariupol is permanent
Speaking to the state agency RIA on Sunday, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnulin made it clear that Russia is in Mariupol to stay. He said the government hopes to finish rebuilding its blasted downtown by the end of the year.
“People have started coming back. When they saw that the reconstruction was underway, people began to actively return,” Khusnulin told RIA.
Contributor: The Associated Press
