Vladimir Putin visits Mariupol in first trip to occupied eastern Ukraine
President Putin's trip to Mariupol saw him tour several districts by car, stopping occasionally to speak with residents - Chloe Keedy reports
Vladimir Putin has paid a surprise visit to the war-torn city of Mariupol, Russian state media has reported.
Slammed by the city's mayor as a "war criminal returning to the scene of the crime", the trip is President Putin's first to Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine's Donbass region, since Moscow's invasion began last year.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Russian president arrived in Mariupol late on Saturday, after visiting Crimea.
Only two-days-ago, an arrest warrant was issued for him by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in connection to war crimes in Ukraine.
Mariupol became a worldwide symbol of defiance after outgunned and outmanned Ukrainian forces held out in the Azovstal steel works there for nearly three months, before Moscow finally took control of it last May.
President Putin flew by helicopter to the southern port city for a "working trip", according to Russian state news agencies.
He also toured several districts by car, stopping occasionally to speak with residents - though state TV footage shows him uncharacteristically moving in the dark and stopping at traffic lights.
Referring to the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant issued for the Russian president, Mariupol's mayor Vadym Boychenko, told ITV News: "Putin gave the order to destroy Mariupol... this is his reaction to the ICC arrest warrant issued against him."
Speaking to the RIA state agency, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnulin made clear that Mariupol would be staying under Russian control.
He said the government hoped to finish the reconstruction of the city's ruined downtown by the end of the year.
"People have started to return. When they saw that reconstruction is under way, people started actively returning," he told RIA.
When Moscow fully captured Mariupol, an estimated 100,000 people remained out of a pre-war population of 450,000.
Many were left trapped without food, water, heat or electricity, while relentless Russian bombardment had left rows upon rows of shattered or hollowed-out buildings.
On Saturday, President Putin visited Crimea to mark the ninth anniversary of the Black Sea peninsula's annexation from Ukraine.
His visits to both Crimea and Mariupol have been viewed around the world as an act of defiance to the ICC's decision.
On Friday, the Russian president was charged by the court as being "allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population [children] and that of unlawful transfer of population [children] from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation".
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A separate warrant was also issued for the arrest of Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, the Commissioner for Children's Rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation on similar allegations.
Russia has dismissed the warrants as "legally void" with Mr Peskov calling them "outrageous and unacceptable".
But world leaders, including US President Joe Biden, have welcomed the ICC's decision, adding the Russian president had "clearly committed war crimes".
UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly also backed the announcement, tweeting: "Those responsible for horrific war crimes in Ukraine must be brought to justice.
"We welcome the step taken by the independent ICC to hold those at the top of the Russian regime, including Vladimir Putin, to account."