Russia’s Putin makes surprise trip to occupied Mariupol

Russian President Vladimir Putin recently paid a surprise visit to the port city of Mariupol, located in the south-east of Ukraine. This is Putin’s first-ever trip to Ukrainian territory since Russia annexed it in September 2022. This move is also considered a bold act of defiance after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against him on charges of war crimes.

According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Putin traveled to Mariupol after his trip to Crimea, to mark the Black Sea peninsula’s ninth-anniversary celebration of its annexation. Putin was seen talking with locals and visiting an art school and children’s center in Sevastopol, Crimea, as reported on Sunday by Russian news outlets.

After Mariupol, Putin met with Russian military leaders and troops at a command post in Rostov-on-Don, a southern Russian city located around 112 miles farther east. He spoke with Gen. Valery Gerasimov, who is in charge of the Russian military operations in Ukraine, Peskov said.

The visit to Mariupol was kept unannounced, and as per Peskov, Putin inspected some of the city’s “memorial sites,” coastline, and a concert hall.

Mariupol has become an international symbol of resistance as Ukrainian forces had held out in a steel mill there for almost three months while waiting to be outgunned by Moscow forces, who finally took control of it in May. A significant part of the city was destroyed to rubble by Russian shelling.

While the arrest warrant has deepened Putin’s international isolation and criticism, the Kremlin rejected it as “legally null and void” as it does not recognize the ICC’s authority. Putin has not commented on the warrant so far.

The visit to Mariupol comes ahead of a planned visit to Moscow by Chinese President Xi Jinping this week, expected to provide a significant diplomatic boost to Putin in his ongoing confrontation with the West. Post his unannounced trip to Mariupol, Putin intends to inspect the work of the command post in its usual operation mode, said Peskov.

Speaking to the state-owned RIA-Novosti agency, Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin made it clear that Russia plans to stay in Mariupol. The government’s hope is to complete the reconstruction of the city’s downtown that has been severely damaged by the war by the end of the year. Many of the city’s prewar population of 450,000 had fled or were trapped by Moscow’s forces without food, water, heat, or electricity.

There have been reports of at least three civilians killed and 19 wounded by Russian shelling in the past 24 hours in eastern Donetsk region, according to Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko on Ukrainian TV. A 51-year-old woman was “fighting for her life” after being hit by shrapnel as Russian troops fired on the border town of Dvorichna, said Kharkiv regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov.

Andriy Yermak, a top Ukrainian presidential aide, says Ukrainian troops managed to hold the line near Bakhmut, which is a crucial target of a long and grinding Russian offensive. The enemy’s plan to occupy the city is now foundering. Ukraine fears that if Moscow takes control of Bakhmut, it can threaten other Ukrainian strongholds in the region, including Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.