Putin tours devastated Mariupol by helicopter over the weekend of “celebrations” in Crimea
Vladimir Putin visited the devastated Ukrainian city of Mariupol, his first visit to a conquered territory since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine after an international arrest warrant was issued for the Russian president.
Putin flew to Mariupol in a helicopter and toured the city in a car, the Kremlin’s press service said on Sunday, quoted by Russian news agencies.
According to a video broadcast by Russian public television, the trip took place at night, with Putin shown on the street speaking to local residents. “We’re praying for you,” Putin assured one of the residents, saying the city was “a little piece of paradise.”
The Russian leader also visited a reconstructed local musical theater and watched the presentation of a report on the reconstruction work of this devastated city, according to the Kremlin.
This is his first trip to the Ukrainian port city, which was besieged by Russian forces for months before falling in May 2022.
Ukrainian officials have criticized the visit, calling Putin an “international criminal”.
According to the Kremlin, prior to his trip to Mariupol, Putin also held a meeting in Rostov, Russia, with Russian army officials, including Chief of Staff Valeri Guerassimov.
On Saturday he visited the port city of Sevastopol in Russian-occupied Crimea as part of a weekend of “celebrations” to mark Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014.
There were events to mark the event in St. Petersburg, as well as in Crimea itself, where the far-right criminal biker gang Night Wolves, which has been closely associated with Vladimir Putin for several years, held a rally.
The International Criminal Court on Friday issue an arrest warrant for Putin on war crimes charges for his alleged involvement in kidnapping children from Ukraine.
The court said in a statement that the Russian president is “allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and unlawful transfer of population (children) from the occupied territories of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.”
A Kremlin spokesman called the arrest warrant “outrageous and unacceptable” and called the ICC’s decisions “legally void”.
The ICC said its pre-trial chamber found that “there are reasonable grounds to believe that each suspect bears responsibility for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population and unlawful transfer of population from the occupied territories of Ukraine to the Russian Federation of Ukrainian children.” .”
According to Kiev, more than 16,000 Ukrainian children have been deported to Russia since the invasion began, and many have been placed in institutions and foster families.
