The criminal is always drawn to the crime scene. This statement was made by the adviser to the head of the Ukrainian President’s Office Mikhail Podolyak, commenting on the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to occupied Mariupol.
“As the countries of the civilized world announce the arrest of the “war director” (Putin VV) in case of crossing the border, the organizer of the murders of thousands of families of Mariupol came to admire the ruins of the city and mass graves. Cynicism and lack of remorse,” Podolyak wrote on Twitter.
On Sunday, March 19, Putin’s first trip to the occupied territories was reported by state media. Reporters from the Kremlin pool told Nestka that the visit to Mariupol, like Saturday’s visit to annexed Crimea, was not planned.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that traffic in the city was not blocked during the visit. Assistant to the Ukrainian Mayor of Mariupol Pyotr Andryushchenko complaints that during Putin’s stay above the city, the sky was closed. In addition, mobile communications have been disabled.
A Mariupol resident who fled the war discovered in the footage of Putin’s meeting with residents of the Nevsky residential complex, a neighbor of his parents, who is said to have always adhered to pro-Russian views. Another telegram user attending the meeting identified like a marauder who took things from bomb-destroyed apartments.
Russian armed forces occupied Mariupol in May 2022 after bloody fighting and a long blockade. During the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, Mariupol was almost completely destroyed by artillery shelling. According to the UN, up to 90% of multi-storey residential buildings and about 60% of private houses were destroyed or damaged in the city. Before the war, around 426,000 people lived in Mariupol. 350,000 of them became refugees. During the Russian siege deceased at least 25 thousand people. Russian troops are suspected of having committed numerous war crimes in Mariupol. Moscow rejects these messages.
