JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russian President Putin visits occupied city of Mariupol” – AP
“… Putin has visited the occupied port city of Mariupol, his first trip to the Ukrainian territory that Moscow illegally annexed in September. Kremlin spokesman … Peskov said … Putin arrived in Mariupol … Saturday after visiting Crimea, a short distance southwest of Mariupol …. Mariupol became a worldwide symbol of defiance after outgunned and outmanned Ukrainian forces held out in a steel mill … for nearly three months before Moscow finally took control … in May. … The ICC on Friday accused Putin of bearing personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine. U.N. investigators also said there was evidence for the forced transfer of ‘hundreds’ of Ukrainian children to Russia. According to Ukrainian government figures, over 16,000 children have been deported to Russian-controlled territories or Russia itself, many of them from Mariupol. …”