Russian President Putin visits the city of Mariupol

Russian President Putin visits the city of Mariupol


Putin also visited the Black Sea peninsula to mark the ninth anniversary of the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine to Russia. Mariupol became a symbol of resistance around the world, where many Ukrainian army soldiers held on to the steel plant for nearly three months before it was finally captured by Moscow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol. This is Putin’s first visit to Mariupol, which Moscow “illegally” annexed in September. Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russia’s presidential office ‘Kremlin’, told that Putin reached Mariupol late Saturday after visiting Crimea. Putin also visited the Black Sea peninsula to mark the ninth anniversary of the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine to Russia. Mariupol became a symbol of resistance around the world, where many Ukrainian army soldiers held on to the steel plant for nearly three months before it was finally captured by Moscow.

Putin, who visited Mariupol after a court issued an arrest warrant on war crimes charges two days ago, talked with locals and visited an art school and a children’s center in Crimea. Putin has not commented on the arrest warrant. This warrant will further isolate Russia internationally. The Kremlin has rejected the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) decision as “illegal and invalid”. Putin’s visit comes at a time when Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to visit Moscow this week, which is likely to give Putin a significant diplomatic boost amid confrontation with the West.

Footage broadcast by the Rossiya 24 channel on Sunday showed Putin talking to locals outside the newly built residential complex. Putin arrived in Mariupol by helicopter and then traveled by car to the concert hall and the waterfront. Peskov said that after his visit to Mariupol, Putin met Russian military officers and soldiers stationed at the command post in Rostov-on-Don. Peskov told reporters that the visit was not announced and that Putin simply wanted to observe the command’s campaign.

Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin told the state-run RIA news agency on Sunday that the reconstruction of the city would be completed by the end of the year. He said, “People have started returning. When they saw that reconstruction work was being done, people started coming back.” Moscow took full control of Mariupol in May last year. On March 9, less than two weeks after the start of the Russian military offensive in Ukraine, Russian troops bombed a maternity hospital, drawing attention to the plight of the city’s population.

A week later a bombing of a theater was reported to have killed some 300 people who had taken refuge there. Peskov said on Sunday that Moscow considers any ICC decision “illegal and invalid”. Ukraine has welcomed Friday’s ICC verdict but Putin is unlikely to be prosecuted because Russia does not recognize the court’s authority. Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said at least three people were killed and 19 others wounded in shelling by Russian forces over the past 24 hours.

Disclaimer:IndiaTheNews has not edited this news. This news has been published from PTI-language feed.





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