Putin visited Crimea and Donbass

Russian President Vladimir Putin made a working trip to Crimea on Saturday and visited Mariupol on Sunday for the first time since the start of a full-scale war in Ukraine.

Governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhaev, together with the chairman of the Patriarchal Council for Culture, Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov) of Pskov and Porkhov, showed Putin the new children’s art school and children’s center “Korsun” – the first part of a large-scale project of the historical and archaeological park “Tauric Chersonese”.

Early on Sunday morning, Putin flew by helicopter to Mariupol. This is the first trip of the president to this region. Driving a car, Putin, accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, traveled around several districts of the city, assessing the progress of restoration work, tells TASS. He was informed in detail about how the restoration of the city is going, showed residential buildings and social facilities.

The vice-premier told the president that during the restoration of the city center they decided to preserve its appearance, although it was badly damaged. At present, according to Khusnullin, life in the city is well established, the inhabitants of Mariupol have begun to actively return, and the population is growing. The port is in good condition and is used as a construction and transshipment base. The airport is currently used for military purposes, civil flights are not yet accepted, the start of its full operation is scheduled for 2025.

Then, according to the Kremlin press service, Putin held a meeting at the command post of the Northern Military District in Rostov-on-Don and heard reports from the Chief of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov and several military leaders. At the command post, he was met by the Deputy Commander of the Joint Group of Russian Forces in the area of the NMD, Sergey Surovikin.