Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Mariupol in occupied Ukraine over the weekend to inspect reconstruction work and visit the home of at least one local resident, the Kremlin said. statement Sunday.
Mariupol, a port city on the Sea of Azov in the Donetsk region, has been under Russian rule since May and was illegally annexed by Moscow in September.
Putin arrived by helicopter and drove through the city to inspect reconstruction work in several districts, the statement said.it belonged to putin Second trip to newly annexed territoryThis time, I visited Crimea on Saturday to mark the ninth anniversary of Russia’s illegal occupation of the Black Sea Peninsula.
The news arrives from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in less than two days. issued an arrest warrant On Friday, President Putin and Maria Lvovova, an official in his office for children’s rights, were allegedly involved in the illegal deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children from the occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia. for Verova.
Mariupol theater bombing:The bombing was a deliberate war crime, the Amnesty International report said.Biden Increases Ukraine Aid by $800 Million: Leka on July 1p
Mariupol remains a symbol of Ukrainian resistance
Mariupol’s predicament It was first focused on a Russian airstrike on a maternity hospital on March 9 last year, less than two weeks after Russian troops moved into Ukraine. About 300 people were reported killed in the theater bombing. Evidence obtained by the AP last spring indicated that The actual death toll could be closer to 600.
A small group of Ukrainian fighters, who held out for 83 days at the sprawling Azokhstan Steelworks east of Mariupol, held up Russian forces before surrendering, becoming a symbol of Ukraine’s tenacity in the face of Moscow’s invasion. .
The city, which was previously home to more than 430,000 people, has been under direct Russian control since May 2022.
Life has become tormented:Illustrated story of the Siege of Mariupol.
Russian official: Mariupol annexation permanent
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Husnulin said on Sunday, speaking to the state-run RIA agency, that Russia would remain in Mariupol. He said he hopes the government will finish rebuilding the bombed-out downtown by the end of the year.
“People started coming back. Seeing the rebuilding going on, people started coming back actively,” Kusnurin told the RIA.
The story was updated with an additional Associated Press report that Russia’s deputy prime minister is speaking to Russia’s state-run RIA agency.
