Defiant Putin Visits Mariupol, a City Razed by Russian Forces

NYT WORLD: Defiant Putin Visits Mariupol, a City Razed by Russian Forces
By Matthew Mpoke Bigg, Ivan Nechepurenko and Andrés R. Martínez
Section: World
Source: New York Times
Published Date: March 19, 2023 at 02:00AM

The trip was the Russian leader’s first to territory his forces captured since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and came shortly after an international court issued a warrant for his arrest for war crimes.

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia made his first trip to territory captured by his forces since they invaded Ukraine more than a year ago, traveling late on Saturday to the ravaged city of Mariupol, where Russia staged some of its most brutal attacks of the war.
The visit appeared to be both a gesture of defiance — it came just a day after an international court issued a warrant for the Russian leader’s arrest for war crimes — and a demonstration of Mr. Putin’s resolve to pursue his defeat of Ukraine ahead of the arrival in Moscow of President Xi Jinping of China, a crucial economic partner.
Mariupol became a symbol of Ukrainian agony when Russian forces began laying waste to it with artillery soon after its forces crossed the border. It grew into a beacon of Ukrainian resistance when the city’s last defenders endured a grueling siege at a steel plant.

Read More at: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/19/world/europe/putin-mariupol-crimea-ukraine.html

Russia-Ukraine War: Putin Visits Occupied City Of Mariupol