KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to Crimea on Saturday to mark the ninth anniversary of Ukraine’s annexation of the Black Sea peninsula, a day after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader, accusing him of war crimes. .
Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti said Putin visited an art school and a children’s center, locations that appear to have been chosen in response to the lawsuit.
The court specifically accused him on Friday of taking personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine during Russia’s full-scale invasion of the neighboring country, which began nearly 13 months ago.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, a move that most of the world denounced as illegal. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on Russia to withdraw from the peninsula, as well as the areas it has occupied since last year.
Putin has shown no intention of giving up the Kremlin’s gains. Instead, he stressed the importance of holding Crimea on Friday.
MIKHAIL METZEL via Getty Images
“Obviously, security issues now take priority for Crimea and Sevastopol,” he said, referring to Crimea’s largest city. “We will do whatever is necessary to avoid any threat.”
Putin took a plane to travel the 1,821 kilometers (1,132 miles) from Moscow to Sevastopol, where he took the wheel of the car that transported him around the city, according to Moscow Governor Mikhail Razvozhaev.
Along with the art school and children’s center, Putin also visited the archaeological site at the ruins of the ancient Greek city of Chersonesos, according to Russian state media.
The ICC arrest warrant was the first issued against a leader of one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. The court, based in The Hague, Netherlands, also issued an arrest warrant against Maria Lvova-Belova, Commissioner for Children’s Rights at the Office of the President of the Russian Federation.
The move was immediately rejected by Moscow and hailed by Ukraine as a major step forward. Its practical implications may be limited, however, as the chances of Putin being tried at the International Criminal Court are highly unlikely, as Moscow does not recognize the court’s jurisdiction or extradite its citizens.
via the Associated Press
Large-scale Russian attacks continued in Ukraine after the court’s announcement. Ukraine was attacked by 16 Russian drones on Friday evening, the Ukrainian Air Force reported on Saturday morning.
Writing on Telegram, the air force command said 11 out of 16 drones were shot down “in the central, western and eastern regions”. Areas targeted include the capital, Kyiv, and the western province of Lviv.
Kyiv city administration chief Serhii Popko said Ukrainian air defenses had shot down all drones heading for the Ukrainian capital, while Lviv regional governor Maksym Kozytskyi said on Saturday that three of the six drones had been shot down, while the other three hit a district. on the border with Poland.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, the attacks were carried out from the eastern coast of the Sea of Azov and from the Russian province of Bryansk, which borders Ukraine.
The Ukrainian military also said in its regular update Saturday morning that Russian forces had launched 34 airstrikes, one missile attack and 57 anti-aircraft strikes in the past 24 hours. The Facebook update said falling debris hit southern Kherson province, destroying seven homes and a kindergarten.
via the Associated Press
According to the Ukrainian statement, Russia continues to focus on offensive operations in Ukraine’s industrial east, focusing on attacks on Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Marinka and Shakhtarsk in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk province.
Regional Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said one person was killed and three were wounded when 11 towns and villages in the province were shelled on Friday.
Further west, Russian missiles hit a residential area overnight in the city of Zaporizhzhia, the regional capital of the partially occupied province of the same name. No casualties were reported, but houses were damaged, said Anatoliy Kurtev of the Zaporizhzhia city council.
British military officials said on Saturday that Russia was likely to expand conscription to supply its troops fighting in Ukraine. In its latest intelligence update, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said deputies in the Russian Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, have tabled a bill to change the age for men to 21-30 from the current 18-27 .
The ministry said many men between the ages of 18 and 21 are currently applying for exemption from military service because they are enrolled in higher education institutions. The change would mean they would eventually have to serve. He said the law would likely pass and take effect in January 2024.
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