Russia builds new army base in Mariupol

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region, which he claims to have annexed, the Kremlin told Russian news agencies on Saturday.

“In due time this will happen, of course. This is a region of the Russian Federation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, without indicating when this could happen.

The region, which includes the destroyed Sea of Azov city of Mariupol and the smaller cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychank, has emerged as a key battleground in the war, becoming the site of some of the fiercest fighting so far.

In February Putin signed a decree recognising its two regions, Donetsk and Lukhansk, as independent. The region holds huge nationalistic signigicance for him, having described Eastern Ukraine as “ancient Russian lands”.