<Anchor>
I received news yesterday (18th) that the
International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Putin on suspicion of war crimes. Then, as if to ridicule this, President Putin was shown walking proudly around occupied Ukraine.

Xinzheng is a journalist.

<Reporter>
President
Putin drives around occupied Mariupol in southern Ukraine.

The Kremlin spokesman's office said Putin arrived in Mariupol by helicopter yesterday.

It was the first time since the outbreak of the war that President Putin personally visited occupied Ukraine, and he reportedly toured various places in downtown Mariupol and spoke with residents.

Mariupol was the site of some of the fiercest Russian air strikes in southern Ukraine early in the war.

More than 3,600 civilians were killed in the Russian occupation, including a theater that was used as a civilian shelter, was bombed in March last year, killing more than 2 people, including children.

In particular, many children were forcibly displaced from Mariupol to mainland Russia, which led the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants for Putin's alleged war crimes.

But just one day after the arrest warrant was issued, President Putin went to the scene of a war crime that was horrific as he saw.

[CNN: Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to be trying to show off his control of the occupied territories and to show that he is rightfully Russian territory by showing him talking with Mariupol officials about rebuilding the region.]

Prior to his visit to Mariupol, President Putin made an unannounced visit to a port city on the Krm Peninsula on the ninth anniversary of the forced annexation of the Krm Peninsula, and he also visited the headquarters overseeing the war in Ukraine to chair a meeting.

Putin's public move, which came shortly after the issuance of the arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court, is an observation that both a response to international criticism and a mockery.

(Video editing by Kim Yoon-sung)