Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the occupied city of Mariupol, in a gesture Kiev compared to that of a criminal returning to the crime scene. Video of the visit was shared by official Russian media, with the Kremlin claiming much of the passage through the port city in Donbass on Saturday night was “spontaneous”. Earlier, the president had been to Sevastopol, Crimea, to celebrate the anniversary of the annexation – not recognized by the international community.
“The criminal always returns to the scene of the crime. While the civilized world announces the arrest of the ‘war leader’ (Putin) if he crosses his borders, the murderer of thousands of families from Mariupol came to the ruins of the city and the graves Cynicism and Lack of Remorse”, Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, wrote on Twitter. The International Criminal Court, which does not recognize Moscow, issued an arrest warrant against Putin on Friday for “illegal deportation of children” from occupied Ukraine.
Mariupol, a major industrial city on the Sea of Azov, was the scene of fierce fighting at the outset of the invasion, with the last pocket of resistance at the Azovstal steelworks falling in mid-May after weeks of siege. The city was completely destroyed.
Putin arrived overnight by helicopter – “as if he were a thief,” the Ukrainian defense ministry reported on Twitter – and toured Mariupol behind the wheel of a car, after being briefed on reconstruction work. “Initially, the plan was just to visit this residential complex and, of course, there was no intention to meet the citizens or enter their homes. It was all completely spontaneous,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said yesterday.
“We are praying for you,” one of the alleged residents of the Nevsky district with whom Putin spoke, told television cameras, claiming that the rebuilt neighborhood was “a piece of paradise.” Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin claimed residents are “actively” returning to the city. Half a million people lived in Mariupol before the invasion – there were 100,000 left when Russia captured the city. Kiev claims at least 20,000 have been killed in Russian attacks, with the European Union declaring the siege a “massive war crime”.
On return to Russia, the president was already yesterday in the city of Rostov-na-Donu, in the Rostov region, for a meeting with Russian military leaders and the control center responsible for the military operation in Ukraine. “Neither the presidential administration nor the defense ministry planned the visit in advance,” said Peskov, who said the purpose was “to inspect the center’s work in its normal operation.”
Putin’s trip to Mariupol was his first visit to the Donbass region and is the closest to the frontline since the “special military operation” began. The visit came on the eve of hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Moscow on a trip he hopes will serve to strengthen the “borderless” partnership between the two countries.
The Chinese leader is expected in the Russian capital today for an informal lunch, with a formal meeting and joint press conference tomorrow.
Last month, Beijing published its 12-point “peace plan” – effectively a “political deal on the Ukraine crisis”. In it he called on both sides to resume peace negotiations, defended respect for the sovereignty of all countries and reiterated his opposition to the use of nuclear weapons. He was also against international sanctions. The West criticized the proposal as it placed the aggressor and the person attacked on the same level, noting that China not only failed to condemn the invasion, but also kept Russia’s economy alive.
But Kiev has not completely rejected the idea and Zelensky has said he is open to talks with Xi. According to The Wall Street Journal, the Chinese president will be able to speak via video conference with his Ukrainian counterpart for the first time after a visit to Moscow. Xi, who this month saw his third term as China’s chief destiny official, has sought a more active role at the international level, surprising Beijing by brokering a deal to restore relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia .
As for Ukraine, from the start Brussels defended that it had a role to play because of its influence in Russia, but this was not confirmed. The US even claimed that China was willing to sell weapons to Moscow, which Beijing denied. However, Washington has warned it will not support a ceasefire declaration Xi could declare during his visit to Moscow, arguing that it would just give the Russians more time to get ashore for another offensive.
Source: DN
