The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, has visited the city of Mariupol on his first trip to Donbass. As they point out from the Kremlin, the displacement is part of a series of “working visits” that the Russian president would be making.
Putin arrived by helicopter at the enclave located in the south of the Donetsk region, on the shores of the Azov Sea. Last year, Mariupol was the scene of fierce fighting. During the visit, the Russian president toured various neighborhoods of the city in a car -which he drove himself- accompanied by the deputy prime minister Marat Khusnulinwhich informed him of the progress of the reconstruction work in and around Mariupol.
“In particular, it dealt with the construction of new units of households, social centers and educational, infrastructures and medical institutions“Added the Kremlin press office, which did not specify the duration of the visit.
The Kremlin says Vladimir Putin visited Mariupol, the Ukrainian city Russia’s invading army razed to the ground, overnight by helicopter.
This is a show of defiance after the ICC arrest warrant – Ukraine says 1,000 of the 14,700 children Russia are abducted from Mariupol. pic.twitter.com/vtyuTbEtY1
—max seddon (@maxseddon) March 19, 2023
Shortly after, the Russian Presidency reported that Putin met in Rostov-on-Don, in southern Russia, with the command of the military campaign in Ukraine. “The head of state listened to the reports of the chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Valeri Guerasimov, and other military chiefs,” the press release added.
This Saturday, Putin made a surprise trip to Crimea on the ninth anniversary of its annexation by Russia. The president visited the Korsun Art School and children’s center in Chersonese, on the outskirts of the port of Sevastopol, the main base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, reports Efe.
Xi arrives tomorrow
the chinese president, Xi Jinping, arrives in Moscow on Monday on a “peace visit” after Beijing recently presented an initiative to settle the conflict between Russians and Ukrainians. As reported by the Kremlin on Friday, Xi will meet the same Monday for an informal lunch with Vladimir Putin, with whom he will hold negotiations on Tuesday.
(Xi Jinping will visit Putin on March 20 in Moscow and “they will sign important bilateral documents”)
Putin and Xi, who have had tense relations with the United States in recent months, are going to offer a press conference at the end of their talks. The head of Chinese diplomacy, wang yipresented the initiative a month ago in the Kremlin after doing the same with kyiv and European countries.
The Kremlin sees the Chinese leader’s visit as a boost amid the increasing isolation the West has subjected Russia to since the start of fighting in Ukraine in February 2022.
Russia-Ukraine War
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