Russian President Vladimir Putin made a surprise trip to occupied cities of Mariupol and Sevastopol on the day of the ninth anniversary of Crimea’s reunification with Russia. These two war-ravaged cities were largely destroyed in a year-long Russian offensive against Ukraine. He was seen driving a car in Sevastopol, while he travelled to Mariupol in a helicopter.
Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev posted the video on his Telegram channel.
Russian news agency Tass said, “Our president knows how to surprise. In the end, the president came personally. By car. He was at the wheel himself. On such a historic day, the president is always with Sevastopol and the people of Sevastopol. Our country has an incredible leader.”
In the 40-minute video Putin is shown driving at night in a black SUV, maneuvering through concrete blocks on the road and even once stopping at a red light, which is highly unusual for state leader’s driving protocol.
Putin also drove to the city’s orchestra hall, where he was shown an auditorium and a room filled with musical instruments. At one point the video showed Putin rolling past ruined houses on streets with military guards.
Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the port city of Mariupol, Russian state news agencies reported Sunday. It was his first trip to the Ukrainian territory that Moscow illegally annexed in September. https://t.co/8ByYASsA6P pic.twitter.com/rI2ewGblmq
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 19, 2023
The video can be seen on Telegram channel
Putin travelled to Mariupol in a helicopter. He drove a vehicle along the city’s streets, making stops at several locations.
During the trip, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin made a detailed report about reconstruction works in the city and its outskirts.
The highly classified visit was Putin’s first to one of the four Ukrainian regions that Russia claimed in September to have annexed as part of its invasion launched in February 2022. Ukrainian officials decried Putin’s visit, made under the cover of darkness.
The trip, which the Kremlin on Sunday said hadn’t been planned in advance, came after the Russian leader on Friday was issued an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court for alleged “war crimes.”
Putin’s stops in Mariupol and later in Russia’s Rostov-on-Don followed his unannounced appearance in Crimea, the peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014, on Saturday.
The Russian president’s previous full-scale visit to the Crimean peninsula was in 2020.
