Putin Makes A Surprise Visit To Russia-Occupied Mariupol

Guwahati: Russia President Vladimir Putin paid his first visit to Mariupol, which had been completely destroyed by Russian forces earlier in the conflict with Ukraine.

According to the BBC, Putin drove around the destroyed city, passing by a number of sites where his forces had reportedly launched a month-long offensive. Russia had eventually seized control of the city by May.

Putin was seen conversing with a friend in a video that the Russian media made public while they were walking towards the city’s performance centre. According to the Kremlin, Putin’s tour of the city was “spontaneous” and that the visit occurred late on Saturday.

Vadym Boychenko, the exiled Ukrainian mayor of Mariupol, claimed that Putin had a “personal” connection to the city as a result of what had occurred there.

“We have to understand that Mariupol is a symbolic place for Putin, because of the fury he inflicted on the city of Mariupol. No other city was destroyed like that. No other city was under siege for so long. No other city was subjected to carpet bombing,” he was quoted by BBC as saying.

“He has come in person to see what he has done,” added Boychenko.

Putin’s Route

According to a BBC map, Putin travelled down Kuprina St. before turning into Myru Avenue, then onto Metalurhiv Avenue, where the Philharmonic Concert Hall is located. He can be seen seated next to a man wearing a black hat, who Russian media has identified as Marat Khusnullin, the deputy prime minister of Russia.

When they travelled down Myru Avenue, sculptures of birds from Mariupol’s Independence Square dropped to his left. Also, the infamously bombed Mariupol Maternity Hospital Number Three was on his right side but was not seen in the video.

Pictures of Marianna Vyshemirskaya, a very pregnant woman, emerging down steps covered in rubble with a bleeding face went viral amid the fury over the incident. Although she lived and gave birth the next day, the bombing also claimed the life of another pregnant woman.

While Russia’s embassy in London claimed that the hospital was no longer in use and was instead being used by members of the Azov regiment, which was originally established in 2014 as a volunteer militia with ties to the far right but has since been integrated into the Ukrainian National Guard, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky had called it a war crime.

Then, just before the route reached Theatre Square, where a terrible bombing is believed to have killed at least 300 civilians and maybe as many as 600, Putin turned off Myru Avenue.

A big sign that read “children” in Russian was posted in front of the theatre, indicating that the structure was being used by people as a sanctuary from the siege. After the shelling, the building fell, although Moscow denied destroying it and claimed the Azov brigade was to fault. In December, the exiled Ukrainian local government claimed that Russia was razing the theater’s remains.

Boychenko had said, “Russia understood where there was a concentration of people, and deliberately destroyed these places, killing people. They systematically worked on this.”

Putin visits new compound built by Russia in outer Mariupol

Putin could also be seen strolling through a brand-new housing development, rumoured to be in Mariupol’s Nevsky neighbourhood. Khusnullin, who had shown him the drawings for a reconstruction project, was observed guiding him. According to Russian media, he was also spotted conversing with locals. Nevsky is a brand-new neighbourhood in the city’s west that consists of twelve apartment buildings. It was given the name Neva after the river that flows through Vladimir Putin’s hometown of St. Petersburg, Russia.

According to mayor Boychenko, many of the Russian-built structures were found outside of the city. He said, “They built this just to prove that their version of what’s happening there is true. But they lie! They lie that they came to liberate the city. But they destroyed it. This city does not exist any longer. And it takes 20 years to restore it!”

Residents of Mariupol told the BBC that new structures are being built while ones that were damaged by the Russian assault are being demolished. 90% of the residential buildings were destroyed or damaged, according to UN estimates, during the invasion.

A journalist from Norway named Morten Risberg paid the city a visit in December. He claimed that despite “damage everywhere you looked,” he observed “large-scale repair and restoration”.

Risberg said, “They’re changing street names and they’re painting over Ukrainian colours with Russian colours, and they’re putting Russian flags everywhere.” Most of the civilians remaining in the city were just focusing on surviving, he added.

Putin talks a walk through Mariupol’s Philharmonic concert hall

The Russian President can be seen walking through the interior of a concert hall in Mariupol in another part of the footage. Russian state media said that it was the Philharmonic Concert Hall. This is the building that the UN had warned, was to be used to stage trials of Ukrainian troops who fended off Russian forces for months in Mariupol’s massive Azovstal iron and steel plant. Russia was finally able to completely take over Mariupol after the defenders surrendered in May.

Images shared on social media in August, including those by Ukrainian authorities showed metal cages being built on the stage. Prosecuting prisoners of war (POWs) for taking part in hostilities is deemed a war crime by the UN.

However, the trials never took place as the POWs were later part of a prisoner swat for 55 prisoners from Ukraine, including a pro-Kremlin former MP, Viktor Medvedchuk.

Moreover, the latest footage from the insides of the concert hall shows the interior of the building has since been redecorated and the cages are no longer visible.

Boychenko said that the cultural institutions were “where people hid in basements and waited for the Russian terror to end.”

Putin was also seen in a later shot visiting a World War Two memorial built to commemorate Soviet troops who recaptured the city from Nazi Germany.

However, several contradictory reports have also claimed that it was not actually the Russian President, but a doppelganger of Putin who visited Mariupol.

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