On Sunday morning, state television channels and news agencies broadcast footage of Russian President Vladimir Putin visiting Mariupol. The fact of Putin’s arrival in Mariupol confirmed and the TASS agency.
Thus, Putin made the first trip to Donbass since the outbreak of hostilities.
TASS describes the president’s trip to Mariupol as “functional”. According to the agency, which refers to the Kremlin press service, Vladimir Putin arrived in the city by helicopter. At the wheel of a car, he criss-crosses several districts of the city, making stops. The President visited the coastline, the yacht club area, the theater building, the memorial places of Mariupol.
TV channel “Russia 24” published footage in which Putin, driving a car, moves around the city at night. Video filmed from behind. Driving through the city, Putin listens to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin’s report.
TV channel “Star”
TASS also confirms that during his visit to Mariupol, Putin met with Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, who briefed the President on the progress of construction and restoration work in the city and its surroundings.
“In particular, it was about the construction of new residential microdistricts, social and educational facilities, housing and communal service infrastructure, medical institutions,” Khusnullin was quoted as saying by TASS.
The images also show that Putin and Khusnullin visit theater hall, which bears the name of the restored city’s philharmonic society. “Good, handsome,” said the president after touring the room.
TV channel “Star”
Agency “RIA Novosti” informed about Putin’s visit to the Nevsky microdistrict. There, the president, according to the state agency, spoke with local residents, and then, at the invitation of one of the families, visited their home. In footage released by the The Eastern Herald TV channel, Putin while speaking with a group of people, one of whom admits that he celebrates his birthday 15 days after the president of Russia.
In May 2022, Mariupol was occupied by Russian troops. As a result of prolonged fighting, the city was badly damaged. According to the UN, up to 90% of high-rise buildings and up to 60% of private houses were damaged or destroyed in Mariupol. After a referendum in September 2022, the city became part of Russia.
Moreover, on Sunday morning, the TASS news agency, citing the Kremlin press service, reported that Putin spent meeting at the “command post of the special military operation in Rostov-on-Don”.
“The head of state heard reports from Chief of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov and a number of military leaders,” the Kremlin told the agency.
The day before, we learned about the first visit of Vladimir Putin to the territory of Crimea since the beginning of hostilities. On Saturday, March 18, on the occasion of the ninth anniversary of the annexation of the peninsula to Russia, the President came to the opening of the Korsun Art School and Children’s Center in Sevastopol.
