Vladimir Putin visits Mariupol in first trip to occupied Ukraine territory

Russian President Vladimir Putin made a surprise trip to Mariupol, the Kremlin said on March 19, his first visit to territory captured from Ukraine since the start of Moscow's invasion. The visit triggered an angry reaction from Ukraine, with a presidential aide blasting its "cynicism" and "lack of remorse".

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Russian President Vladimir Putin made a surprise trip to Mariupol, the Kremlin said on March 19. This was Putin's first visit to the territory captured from Ukraine since the start of the war. (Source: AFP)

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The visit triggered an angry reaction from Ukraine, with a presidential aide blasting its "cynicism" and "lack of remorse". (Source: AFP)

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Just hours after Putin visited Crimea to mark the ninth anniversary of the peninsula's annexation, video distributed by the Kremlin showed him landing by helicopter in Mariupol, the port city that Moscow captured after a long siege last spring. (Source: AFP)

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The Russian leader took a tour of the city and was seen driving a car. The Kremlin said he visited a rebuilt musical theatre and followed the presentation of a report on reconstruction work. (Source: AFP)

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"We're praying for you," a resident told Putin, referring to the city as "a little piece of paradise", according to images broadcast by Russian state TV which showed that the visit took place at night. (Source: AFP)

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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters the visit took place "very late" on March 18 and into the early hours of March 19. (Source: AFP)

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It was Putin's first trip to the eastern Donbas region since he launched the invasion in February 2022, and comes almost a year after Moscow announced the capture of Mariupol. Located on the shores of the Sea of Azov, the city was left devastated after Moscow's relentless bombardment and brutal siege. (Source: AFP)

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"The criminal always returns to the crime scene... The murderer of thousands of Mariupol families came to admire the ruins of the city and (its) graves. Cynicism and lack of remorse," Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak said on Twitter. Ukraine's defence ministry said on Twitter that Putin visited the city at night "as befits a thief". (Source: AFP)