Putin visits Crimea on ninth anniversary of annexation from Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to Crimea on Saturday to mark the ninth anniversary of Moscow’s annexation of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine, in defiance of the arrest warrant issued by International Criminal Court on Friday.

During the unannounced go to to the port metropolis of Sevastopol, Putin was accompanied by the Russia-appointed governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev, and visited a children’s college and an arts center. 

“Our President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin knows how to surprise. In a good way,” Razvozhayev talked about on the messaging app Telegram, in accordance with Agence France-Press. 

“But Vladimir Vladimirovich came in person. Himself. Behind the wheel. Because on such a historic day, the president is always with Sevastopol and the people of Sevastopol,” the Moscow-backed official talked about.

Several European nations marked the anniversary by blasting Russia for its illegal seizure of the Ukrainian peninsula in 2014. 

“Nine years after the illegal annexation of Crimea, the [United Kingdom] continues to stand 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.”

Sweden’s Foreign Affairs Ministry affirmed that it doesn’t acknowledge the Russia’s illegal occupation of Ukrainian territory. 

“We will continue our unwavering support for Ukraine,” the ministry tweeted.  

The provocative journey bought right here solely a day after the the arrest warrant for Putin, a major for the courtroom in direction of a frontrunner of one of many 5 eternal members of the United Nations Security Council. 

The courtroom accused Putin of committing wrestle crimes, along with for the kidnapping of children from Ukraine, inside the 13 months since Russia’s bloody invasion of its neighbor. 

The courtroom moreover issued an arrest warrant for Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s commissioner for youths’s rights, on the an identical charges. 

Ukraine officers cheered on the announcement, which President Volodymyr Zelensky talked about mirrored his nation’s private investigations.

He generally known as the warrant historic, repeating his characterization of Putin as a terrorist head of a terrorist state.”

Russia, nonetheless, quickly rejected the order, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov calling the warrant for Putin’s arrest issued by the Netherlands-based courtroom “null and void.” The chances that Putin will really face trial on the ICC are low, in consequence of Moscow doesn’t acknowledge the courtroom’s jurisdiction or extradite its nationals.

The warrant moreover did nothing to quell the stopping between Moscow and Kyiv, with Russia persevering with a barrage of assaults all through the war-torn nation Friday and Saturday.

Ukraine’s air drive command wrote on Telegram that it shot down 11 out of 16 drones Russia despatched “in the central, western and eastern regions” Friday evening time, whose targets included Kyiv and the western Lviv space.  

Ukraine’s navy wrote on Facebook early Saturday morning that inside the prior 24 hours, Russia had launched 34 airstrikes, one missile strike and 57 anti-aircraft assaults. The substitute well-known that one in each of assaults centered a settlement inside the Kherson space, which damaged seven homes and a kindergarten.

Separately, Turkey and the United Nations launched that the grain export deal between Ukraine and Russia that was set to expire Sunday was extended for a minimum of 60 days, following a quantity of days of talks facilitated by the Turkish authorities.

The two nations clashed over how prolonged they wanted the deal to proceed, and officers have differed of their bulletins for the latest extension.

Russia agreed to extend the deal for lower than 60 days, in accordance with a letter from its UN marketing consultant shared by worldwide ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova. Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said a 120-day extension had been secured.

The grain deal, first signed in July following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Black Sea blockade, has allowed the distribution of over 25 million tons of meals, serving to to ease world meals prices and stabilize the markets, in accordance with the UN.

With Post wires