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Ukraine conflict - day 389: Putin makes surprise visit to Mariupol
CGTN
Europe;Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhayev visit a children's arts and aesthetic center. /Reuters via third party
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhayev visit a children's arts and aesthetic center. /Reuters via third party

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhayev visit a children's arts and aesthetic center. /Reuters via third party

TOP HEADLINES

• President Vladimir Putin has made a surprise visit to Mariupol. It's his first trip to the Russian-controlled territories of the Donbas region since the start of the conflict. READ MORE BELOW

• The visit came after Putin traveled to Crimea on Saturday (March 18) in an unannounced visit to mark the ninth anniversary of Russia's military intervention into the peninsula.

• Russian strikes killed two people and wounded 10 in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk on Saturday, a regional governor said, accusing Moscow of using cluster bombs in the attack.

Ukraine's army says forces outside the battered eastern city of Bakhmut are managing to keep Russian units at bay so ammunition, food, equipment and medicines can be delivered to defenders.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhayev during a visit of the state museum-preserve
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhayev during a visit of the state museum-preserve "Tauric Chersonese" in Sevastopol./Reuters via third party.

Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhayev during a visit of the state museum-preserve "Tauric Chersonese" in Sevastopol./Reuters via third party.

IN DEPTH

Putin visits Mariupol

President Vladimir Putin made a surprise visit to Mariupol, the Kremlin reported on Sunday (March 19), in his first trip to the Russian-controlled territories of the Donbas region since the start of the conflict.

The visit came after Putin traveled to Crimea on Saturday (March 18) in an unannounced visit to mark the ninth anniversary of Russia taking control of the peninsula.

Mariupol, which came under Russian control in May after one of the conflict's longest and bloodiest battles, was the Moscow's first major victory after it failed to seize Kyiv and focused instead on southeastern Ukraine.

Putin flew by helicopter to Mariupol, Russian news agencies reported citing the Kremlin. It is the closest to the front lines Putin has been since in the year-long conflict. Driving a car, Putin traveled around several districts of the city, making stops and talking to residents.

In the Nevsky district of Mariupol, a new residential neighborhood built by Russian military, Putin visited an apartment in a newly built residential complex.

"The head of state also examined the coastline of Mariupol in the area of the yacht club, the theater building, memorable places of the city," the Interfax agency cited the Kremlin's press service.

Mariupol is in the Donetsk region, one of the four regions into which Putin's forces moved in September. Kyiv and its Western allies condemned the move as illegal. Donetsk, together with the Luhansk region, comprise most of the Donbas industrialized part of Ukraine that has seen the biggest battle in Europe for generations.

 

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Source(s): Reuters ,AFP

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