Putin Visits Ukraine: A Reminder of Russian Victory and Ukrainian Perseverance

Vladimir Putin in Syria in 2017. Last week, Putin flew to Ukraine for a surprise visit to Mariupol (Wikimedia Commons).

Russian President Vladimir Putin made a surprise visit to Mariupol, Ukraine on Saturday March 18, as reported by the Kremlin. He is shown in video, landing by helicopter according to The Moscow Times. This was his first visit to captured Ukrainian territory since the initial Russian invasion of Ukraine in the ongoing conflict that began last February.

Before traveling to Mariupol, Putin visited Crimea in commemoration of the ninth anniversary of its 2014 annexation by Moscow, where he visited an art school and a children’s center, according to PBS. Politico reports that he continued to Mariupol by helicopter and then drove himself around the city, meeting local residents and visiting the concert hall, coastline, and “memorial sites.” Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnulin reported that the Russian government hopes to finish reconstructing the downtown, which was destroyed by last spring’s battle, and that people have started to return to the city. His comments demonstrate a sense of positivity for Russian progress in Ukraine.

While the Russian government has portrayed the visit through the lens of reconstruction, Ukrainian officials critiqued Putin’s actions. Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak responded to Putin’s visit on Twitter by calling him a criminal returning to the crime scene and called attention to the violence the Russian invasion inflicted on Mariupol and its citizens. He writes, “the murderer of thousands of Mariupol families came to admire the ruins of the city and (its) graves.” Similarly, Mariupol’s exiled city council responded on their Telegram account by calling Putin an “international criminal” who “watched the ‘rebuilding of the city’…at night. Probably in order not to see the city, killed by his ‘liberation’, in the light of day.”

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry also highlighted the timing of the visit, tweeting “As befits a thief, Putin visited Ukrainian Mariupol, under the cover of night. First, it is safer. Also, darkness allows him to highlight what he wants to show, and keeps the city his army completely destroyed and its few surviving inhabitants away from prying eyes.” The Ukrainian responses convey contempt for Putin, emphasizing his efforts to depict the visit in an aura of Russian success and optimism despite the destruction Russian forces inflicted on the city.

Moscow originally captured the port city of Mariupol after an intense and devastating battle last spring. Russian forces began advancing on the port city of Mariupol on March 2, 2022. BBC reports that the siege of the city lasted until Russian forces encircled remaining Ukrainian resistance on April 22. The three-month battle was much longer than anticipated, according to the BBC. In early May, the Ukrainian government officially ended its combat mission in Mariupol after a last stand by Ukrainian forces at the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant, reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Many Ukrainian fighters remained in Mariupol amidst evacuations to the violence, sheltering in and defending the Azovstal plant, one of the largest metal works factories in Europe, according to the BBC. PBS reports that Ukraine’s General Staff called the fighters that remained in Mariupol and refused to surrender the “heroes of our time,” and they have since become a symbol of resistance for their efforts.

Russia’s eventual success in Mariupol was the first victory in a major city for Russian forces after their invasion. France24 reports that prior to the attack on Mariupol, Moscow had unsuccessfully attempted to seize Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv, which is located 40 km (or about 25 miles) from the Russia-Ukraine border. After the failure to seize Kharkiv, the battle for Mariupol became an even more important strategic victory for Russia, because control of Mariupol “would allow Moscow to create a bridge between the Donbas region and its gains in the Kherson region further west” according to Sim Tack, an analyst at U.S. military consultancy Force Analysis.

Russia’s occupation of Mariupol is strategically significant because its location and role as a port city connects Russian-occupied territory. The initial victory in Mariupol is also significant to the spirit of the Russian war effort as it represents one of the first early victories for Russia. These factors likely play into Putin’s decision to depict his visit as promoting Russian reconstruction efforts, sending a reminder of Russia’s ability to successfully overcome and occupy a major city. Inversely, the reminder of the siege of Mariupol reasserts the sense of Ukrainian pride and resistance demonstrated by Ukrainian fighters in Mariupol.