Europe 1 with AFP 14:23 p.m., March 19, 2023

In the midst of the war in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the devastated city of Mariupol in Donbass on the shores of the Sea of Azov. A Ukrainian presidential adviser very quickly denounced the "cynicism" and "lack of remorse" of the master of the Kremlin.

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Mariupol, a Ukrainian city devastated by shelling, the Kremlin's press service said Sunday, quoted by Russian news agencies. This is the Russian leader's first trip to this Ukrainian port city besieged for months and taken by the Russian army in May 2022. Vladimir Putin already visited Crimea, the peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014, on Saturday on the 9th anniversary of the annexation.

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The Russian president decided at the last moment to go to Mariupol, the Kremlin said Sunday, insisting on the "spontaneous" nature of his trip. "All this was very spontaneous," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, referring to the Russian leader's first trip to Mariupol. "His trips to the city were not planned either," as was a visit to a local musical theater, or his meeting with residents of the port city, he said.

Key information

  • After his appearance Saturday in Crimea, Vladimir Putin made a surprise visit this Sunday to Mariupol
  • According to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, the Russian president visited Mariupol at night "like a thief."
  • Two civilians killed in strikes in Kramatorsk

A Ukrainian presidential adviser has in the wake of Vladimir Putin's "cynicism" and "lack of remorse". "Criminals always come back to the scene of their crimes... The murderer of thousands of families from Mariupol came to admire the ruins of the city and its tombs. Cynicism and lack of remorse," Mykhailo Podoliak wrote on Twitter. Ukrainian authorities in Mariupol called the leader an "international criminal". "International criminal Putin visited the occupied city of Mariupol 'at night' probably so as not to see in the light of day the city killed by his 'liberation,'" the city council wrote on its Telegram account, referring to the international arrest warrant for the Russian president.

The criminal always returns to the crime scene. As the civilized world announces the arrest of the "war director" (VV Putin) in case of crossing its borders, the murderer of thousands of Mariupol families came to admire the ruins of the city & graves. Cynicism & lack of remorse.

— Михайло подоляк (@Podolyak_M) March 19, 2023

The master of the Kremlin also carried out his night visit "like a thief," Ukraine's Defense Ministry said Sunday. "As if he were a thief, Putin visited the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, sheltering behind the night. First, it's safer. And also, the night allows him to focus on what he wants to show, and keeps the city that his army totally destroyed and its few inhabitants who survived away from prying eyes," the ministry said on Twitter.

Two civilians killed and ten wounded in strikes in Kramatorsk

Two civilians were killed and ten wounded by Russian strikes with "cluster munitions" on Saturday afternoon in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, said Pavlo Kyrylenko, the governor of the Donetsk region. The strikes hit a park, a funeral goods store as well as a dozen residential buildings and two cars, he said on Telegram. "More than a hundred countries prohibit the use of cluster munitions, but Russia continues to use these weapons, which release many smaller bombs and indiscriminately injure civilians," Kyrylenko said.

A few hours earlier, the mayor of Donesk, Alexander Goncharenko, had reported two people killed and 8 wounded, 3 seriously, "consequences of the bombardment of Kramatorsk with cluster munitions". "Russia continues to reign terror," the mayor lashed out on his Facebook page. AFP journalists heard a dozen near-simultaneous explosions shortly before 16 p.m. local time and saw smoke rising in a park in the south of the city.

Shortly after, another dozen explosions of the same type were heard in a residential area about 2 km from the first strike. In the park, a woman died on the spot as a result of her injuries caused by shrapnel ammunition, AFP journalists found.