Putin made a surprise trip to Mariupol, Ukraine’s first to occupied Donbas By Reuters
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin holds talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping via video link from Moscow, Russia, December 30, 2022. Sputnik/Mikhail Kuravlev/Kremlin via REUTERS
Lydia Kelly
(Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin made a surprise visit to Mariupol, Russian state media reported on Sunday. This will be the first trip of the Kremlin leader to the territories of the Ukrainian Donbass occupied by Russia since the beginning of the war.
The visit comes after Putin made an unannounced visit to Crimea on Saturday to mark the ninth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine, and just two days after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader.
Mariupol, captured by Russia in May after one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the war, was Russia’s first major victory since it failed to capture Kyiv and instead focused on southeastern Ukraine.
Putin flew by helicopter to Mariupol, Russian new agencies report, citing the Kremlin. This is the closest Putin has been to the front line since a year of war. By car, Putin traveled around several districts of the city, making stops and talking to residents.
Mariupol on the Sea of Azov, after several weeks of fighting, turned into a smoldering shell. The Organization for Security and Cooperation and Europe (OSCE) has called Russia’s early bombing of a maternity hospital in Mariupol a war crime.
On Friday, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin, charging him with the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine, a highly symbolic move that further isolates the Russian leader.
While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has made several trips to the battlefield to boost the morale of his troops and discuss strategy, Putin has mostly stayed in the Kremlin, conducting what Russia calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Kyiv and its allies say the 13-month-long invasion is an imperialist land grab that has killed thousands and displaced millions in Ukraine.
In the Nevsky district of Mariupol, a new residential area built by the Russian military, Putin visited the family at their home, Russian media reported.
“The head of state also examined the coastline of Mariupol in the area of the yacht club, the theater building, and memorable places in the city,” the Interfax news agency quoted the Kremlin press service as saying.
Mariupol is in the Donetsk region, one of four regions that Putin transferred in September for annexation. Kyiv and its Western allies condemned the move as illegal. Donetsk, together with Luhansk Oblast, make up the majority of Donbass, an industrialized part of Ukraine that has hosted the biggest battles in Europe for generations.
Russian media reported Sunday that Putin also met with the commander-in-chief of his military operation in Ukraine, including Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov, who is in charge of Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
