Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, made a surprise trip to Mariupol, according to the Kremlin on Sunday. This was his first voyage to a region Moscow had seized from Ukraine.
A presidential aide attacked Ukraine’s “cynicism” and “lack of remorse” after the visit, setting off an angry response.
Putin was captured by Moscow last spring after a protracted siege in the port city of Mariupol, as seen in a video released by the Kremlin just hours after he toured Crimea to commemorate the ninth anniversary of the peninsula’s annexation.
The Russian president was spotted driving a car as he explored the metropolis. According to the Kremlin, he went to a musical theater that had been renovated and watched a report on the renovations.
“We’re praying for you,” a resident told Putin, referring to the city as “a little piece of paradise”, according to images broadcast by Russian state TV which showed that the visit took place at night.
The visit took place “very late” on Saturday and into the early hours of Sunday, according to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.
It was Putin’s first visit to the eastern Donbas since he began the assault there in February 2022, and it came almost a year after Moscow declared Mariupol to have been taken.
Located on the shores of the Sea of Azov, the city was left devastated after Moscow’s unrelenting bombardment and cruel siege.
“The criminal always returns to the crime scene… the murderer of thousands of Mariupol families came to admire the ruins of the city and (its) graves. Cynicism and lack of remorse,” Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak said on Twitter.
Ukraine’s defence ministry said on Twitter that Putin visited the city at night “as befits a thief”.
