Vladimir Putin visits occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol, Russian state media reports

Published

2 years ago

March 19, 2023

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Vladimir Putin has visited the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol, according to Russian media reports.

The president made what state media described as a “working trip” to the port city, which he annexed in September last year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Mr Putin, who arrived in a helicopter, travelled around several districts of the city, making stops and talking to residents, according to Russia’s TASS state-owned news agency, citing the Kremlin.

It is believed to be his first trip to Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia since its invasion last year.

The visit follows the widely-condemned annexation of the regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia in September.

The visit also comes as Mr Putin visited Crimea to mark the ninth anniversary of the Black Sea peninsula’s annexation from Ukraine in 2014.

Most of the world considers Russia’s annexations to be illegal, while Ukraine has said it will fight to get the regions back.

Mariupol, a strategically important port city located in the Donetsk Oblast and beside the Sea of Azov, was the site of some of the fiercest fighting in the early part of the war.

Ukrainian forces holed up in the city’s Azovstal steelworks for a last-stand defensive, which ended in surrender in May after a three-month siege of the facility by Russia.

More than 2,500 buildings sustained damage in the siege of Mariupol – nearly half of everything that stood in the city.

Sky News reported in February how Russia had been remodelling the city in its own image since its capture, including turning the ruined steelworks, once one of the biggest metallurgical plants in Europe, into a “tech and eco park”.

Read our report from April 2022: How the Azovstal steelworks turned into the final outpost in the brutal battle for Mariupol

Alongside the visit, Russian media reported that Mr Putin met with the top command of his military operation in Ukraine, including Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.

The meeting is said to have taken place at the Rostov-on-Don command post, in southern Russia, near to the Ukrainian border, according to TASS.

On Saturday, the Russian president made a 1,132-mile plane journey from Moscow to Sevastopol – Crimea’s largest city – a day after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him.

The court says he is responsible for the abduction of hundreds of Ukrainian children since Russia’s full invasion of the country began in February last year.

In Crimea, he was greeted by Mikhail Razvozhayev – the Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol – before visiting an art school and a children’s centre.

Mr Putin’s remarks were not broadcast by state media but as recently as Friday, he was talking about the importance of holding on to Crimea.

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“Obviously, security issues take top priority for Crimea and Sevastopol now,” he said.

“We will do everything needed to fend off any threats.”

Mr Putin has not commented publicly on the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant, but his spokesman called it “null and void” on Friday.

Russia does not recognise the jurisdiction of the court, which is based in The Hague.

It also does not extradite its citizens to face the court’s justice, meaning Mr Putin is unlikely to ever face trial there.

World

Belgium announces it will recognise Palestinian state

Published

3 hours ago

September 2, 2025

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Belgium announces it will recognise Palestinian state

The Belgian government has said it will officially recognise the State of Palestine at the UN General Assembly this month.

The country’s foreign minister, Maxime Prevot, announced it will join the UK, France, Canada, and Australia in recognising a Palestinian state.

Belgium will also introduce “firm sanctions” against the Israeli government, he said, including a ban on imports from West Bank settlements and possible judicial prosecutions.

The Israeli foreign ministry and its Belgian embassy have not yet commented on the announcement.

However, its foreign ministry previously said the UK’s plan to recognise Palestine “constitutes a reward for Hamas”.

Sir Keir Starmer announced in July that the UK would recognise a Palestinian state unless Israel meets certain conditions, those being:

• Israel takes substantive steps to end the “appalling situation in Gaza“

• Israel agrees to a ceasefire

• Israel commits to a long-term sustainable peace – reviving the prospect of a two-state solution

• Israel must allow the UN to restart the supply of aid

• There must be no annexations in the West Bank

In response, the Israeli foreign ministry said: “The shift in the British government’s position at this time, following the French move and internal political pressures, constitutes a reward for Hamas and harms efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and a framework for the release of hostages.”

The UN General Assembly session in New York will begin on 9 September. Ireland, Spain, and Norway all officially recognised a Palestinian state last year.

Out of the 193 United Nations member states, 147 already recognise Palestine as a state as of March 2025.

Earlier this month, Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich announced plans to build a new settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which he said would “bury” the idea of a Palestinian state.

It comes after US secretary of state Marco Rubio revoked the visas of 81 delegates from the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) – blocking them from attending the general assembly.

Under a 1947 UN agreement, the US is generally required to allow access for foreign diplomats to the UN in New York.

But Washington has said it can deny visas for security, extremism and foreign policy reasons.

The number of Palestinians killed in Gaza is now more than 63,000, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry. Its figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

It added that nine more people, including three children, died of malnutrition and starvation over Monday, raising deaths from such causes to at least 348, including 127 children.

The war in Gaza was triggered when Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 250 others hostage.

World

Afghanistan earthquake: A catastrophe compounded by Trump’s aid cuts

Published

3 hours ago

September 2, 2025

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Afghanistan earthquake: A catastrophe compounded by Trump's aid cuts

Earthquakes represent a constant danger in Afghanistan – a country which sits across three geological fault lines.

This most recent rupture near the city of Jalalabad – leaving more than 800 people dead – represents the third major quake in the past four years.

But the people of this impoverished nation are vulnerable in a number of ways.

The impact of foreign aid cuts

Since the Taliban took control in 2021, the international community has withdrawn much of the financial support which formed the bulk of government spending in Afghanistan.

Even humanitarian aid, which generally bypasses government institutions, has shrunk substantially – from $3.8bn (£2.8bn) in 2022 to $767m (£566.6m) this year.

The US government, through its international development arm USAID, provided 45% of all assistance granted to Afghanistan last year – but the Trump administration has slashed those sums.

The UK, along with France, Germany, Sweden, and others have also made deep cuts to humanitarian aid.

As a consequence, hundreds of hospitals and local health clinics in the country have been shut this year and related medical posts have been lost.

Read more from Sky News:
China, Russia, and India seek new world order

This crisis comes as the country tries to absorb millions of people who fled when the Taliban took power. More than two million have come back this year, with Pakistan and Iran taking measures to force their return.

On arrival, they discover a country where more than half the population requires urgent humanitarian assistance, according to the UN – with millions suffering from acute food insecurity.

Large parts of northern Afghanistan have been stricken with the long-term drought.

A catastrophe compounded in a nation that ranks as one of the poorest – and most desperate – on Earth.

World

More than 1,000 feared dead in Sudan landslide, rebel group says

Published

3 hours ago

September 2, 2025

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More than 1,000 feared dead in Sudan landslide, rebel group says

More than 1,000 people are feared dead after a landslide in a village in western Sudan, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM) has said.

The rebel group said only one survivor was found, and that the village in the Marrah Mountains area, in the Darfur region, was destroyed.

SLM leader Abdelwahid Mohamed Nour said in a statement that the landslide struck on Sunday, 31 August, after days of heavy rainfall.

He appealed to the United Nations and international aid agencies for help in recovering the bodies.

The SLM controls the area located in the Darfur region in western Sudan.

Fleeing the civil war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), residents had sought shelter in the Marrah Mountains area, where food and medication are insufficient.

In January, the US determined that the RSF and its militias were committing genocide in Sudan.

The RSF rejected the claim and said: “America previously punished the great African freedom fighter Nelson Mandela, which was wrong.”

The RSF has been fighting Sudan’s army for territorial control of the country since war erupted in the capital, Khartoum, in April 2023.

The ensuing devastation has been described as the worst humanitarian crisis ever recorded – with over 11 million people forced out of their homes, tens of thousands dead, and 30 million in need of humanitarian assistance.

Minni Minnawi, leader of a faction of the group, said in March last year that 1,500 troops would support the Sudanese army in the civil war against the RSF, according to the Sudan Tribune.