The trip was Putin's first-ever visit to the Donbas region, which Russia illegally annexed last year. It followed the International Criminal Court's decision to issue a warrant for him on war crimes.
The Russian invasion has taken a toll on Ukrainian metalworks — the country's second-largest industry — and there's still no deal to ship iron and steel products to customers.
A Mariupol theater troupe displaced when Russia bombed their historic building have reconstituted what's left of their group and are putting on a play by a famous Ukrainian playwright.
Hundreds of civilians were sheltering in the drama theater during the March siege of Mariupol, the southern Ukrainian port city that Russian troops destroyed and now occupy.
Hundreds of civilians were sheltering in the drama theater during the March siege of Mariupol, the southern Ukrainian port city that Russian troops destroyed and now occupy.
More than a thousand soldiers were evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant, and Russia is consolidating control of Mariupol. It is making plans to annex the southwestern parts of the country.
Ukraine announced that all women, children and elderly had been evacuated from a steel plant, a key Russian war objective that has long been under siege.
