Russian President Vladimir Putin made a surprise trip to Mariupol, the Kremlin said Sunday, his first visit to territory captured from Ukraine since the start of Moscow’s invasion.
Just hours after Putin visited Crimea to mark the ninth anniversary of the peninsula’s annexation, video distributed by the Kremlin showed him landing by helicopter in Mariupol, the port city that Moscow captured after a long siege last spring.
The visit triggered an angry reaction from Ukraine, with a presidential aide blasting its “cynicism” and “lack of remorse”.
The Russian leader took a tour of the city and was seen driving a car. The Kremlin said he visited a rebuilt musical theatre and followed the presentation of a report on reconstruction work.
“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, showing the visit took place at night.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters the visit was “spontaneous”, adding that Putin’s movements around the city and his meeting with locals were not planned.
He added that the visit took place “very late” on Saturday and in the early hours of Sunday.
It was Putin’s first trip to the eastern Donbas region since he launched the invasion in February 2022, and comes almost a year after Moscow announced the capture of Mariupol after a campaign that saw the destruction of the Azovstal steel works, the last holdout of Ukrainian forces in the strategic port city.
