Vladimir Putin makes surprise trip to Mariupol, his first visit to occupied Donbas in Ukraine

The ICC issued an arrest warrant on Friday from Putin, accusing him of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine, a highly symbolic transfer that isolates the Russian leader further.

Whilst Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has created a amount of visits to the battlefield to raise the morale of his troops and chat system, Putin has largely remained inside of the Kremlin although managing what Russia phone calls its “particular military operation” in Ukraine.

Kyiv and its allies say the invasion, now in its 13th thirty day period, is an imperialistic land grab that has killed thousands and displaced tens of millions of individuals in Ukraine.

In the Nevsky district of Mariupol, a new household neighbourhood designed by the Russian armed forces, Putin frequented a family members in their property, Russian media noted.

“The head of state also examined the coastline of Mariupol in the spot of the yacht club, the theatre making, unforgettable sites of the town,” theInterfax agency cited the Kremlin’s press provider.

Mariupol is in the Donetsk region, one particular of the 4 regions Putin moved in September to annex. Kyiv and its Western allies condemned the go as unlawful. Donetsk, with each other with the Luhansk location, comprise most of the Donbas industrialised part of Ukraine that has observed the largest fight in Europe for generations.

Russian media reported on Sunday that Putin also satisfied with the major commander of his armed service procedure in Ukraine, like Chief of the Typical Personnel Valery Gerasimov who is in demand of Moscow’s war in Ukraine.