For the first time. Putin walks around Mariupol, Ukraine

Russian state media reported today that President Vladimir Putin took a business trip to Mariupol, a Ukrainian city in the Donetsk region occupied by Moscow forces since May last year.

Russia's TASS news agency quoted the Kremlin as saying Putin had traveled to Mariupol by helicopter. Putin moved as he drove through several areas of the city, stopping and talking to residents.

The Russian news agency also confirmed that Putin met with the high command of his military operation in Ukraine, including Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, who is responsible for Moscow's war in Ukraine.

TASS reported that the meeting was held at the Rostov-on-Don command center in southern Russia.

Yesterday, the Russian president paid a surprise visit to Sevastopol, the main port of Russia's Black Sea Fleet in Crimea, on the ninth anniversary of Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula in 2014, the day after an arrest warrant was issued for him by the International Criminal Court.

Putin visited an art school accompanied by local governor Mikhail Razogaev.