Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to Crimea on Saturday to mark the ninth anniversary of Moscow’s annexation of the Black Sea peninsula to Ukraine, in defiance of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court on Friday.
During the unannounced visit to the port city of Sevastopol, Putin was accompanied by the Russian-appointed governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev, and visited a nursery school and an arts center.
“Our President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin knows how to surprise. In a good way,” Razvozhayev said on the Telegram messaging app, according to Agence France-Press.
“But Vladimir Vladimirovich came in person. The same. behind the wheel Because on such a historic day, the president is always with Sevastopol and the people of Sevastopol,” the Moscow-backed official said.
Several European nations marked the anniversary by criticizing Russia for its illegal seizure of the Ukrainian peninsula in 2014.
“Nine years after the illegal annexation of Crimea, the [United Kingdom] continue standing with [Ukraine] Against Russian Aggression”, the British Embassy in kyiv tweeted. “In Crimea, Ukrainians suffer: citizens have no freedom, civilians are detained and children are in ‘re-education’ camps.”
Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirmed which does not recognize Russia’s illegal occupation of Ukrainian territory.
“We will continue our unwavering support for Ukraine,” the ministry tweeted.
The provocative trip came just a day after Putin’s arrest warrant was issued, the first time the court had targeted a leader of one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.
The court accused Putin of committing war crimes, including the abduction of Ukrainian children, in the 13 months since Russia’s bloody invasion of its neighbor.
The court also issued an arrest warrant for Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, on the same charges.
Ukrainian officials applauded the announcement, which President Volodymyr Zelensky said reflects his nation’s own investigations.
He called the order historic, repeating his characterization of Putin as a terrorist leader of a terrorist state.”
Russia, however, quickly rejected the warrant, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov calling the warrant for Putin’s arrest issued by the Netherlands-based court “null and void.” The chances of Putin facing trial at the ICC are low, because Moscow does not recognize the court’s jurisdiction or extradite its citizens.
The order also did nothing to quell the fighting between Moscow and kyiv, and Russia continued a barrage of attacks across the war-torn country on Friday and Saturday.
Ukraine’s air force command wrote on Telegram that it shot down 11 of the 16 drones that Russia sent “in the central, western and eastern regions” on Friday night, whose targets included Kiev and the western Lviv region.
Ukrainian military wrote on Facebook early Saturday morning that in the previous 24 hours, Russia had launched 34 airstrikes, one missile attack and 57 anti-aircraft strikes. The update noted that one of the attacks targeted a settlement in the Kherson region, damaging seven houses and a kindergarten.
Separately, Turkey and the United Nations announced the extension of the grain export agreement between Ukraine and Russia, which expired on Sunday. for at least 60 daysafter several days of talks facilitated by the Turkish government.
The two nations clashed over how long they wanted the agreement to continue, and officials differed on their announcements on the latest extension.
Russia has agreed to extend the deal for just 60 days, according to a letter from its UN representative shared by Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov saying a 120-day extension had been secured.
The cereal agreement, signed for the first time in July after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the blockade of the Black Sea, has allowed the distribution of more than 25 million tons of food, which has helped to alleviate world commodity prices. food and stabilize markets, according to the UN.
with pole wires
