Ukraine: the surprise visit of Vladimir Putin in Donbass

After going to Crimea, Vladimir Putin moved to Donbass on Sunday, March 19, a region where fighting has been raging since the start of the war. Back in Moscow, he had to receive Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The Russian president’s surprise visit in Donbass made the headlines of all the country’s newspapers. Arrived in the middle of Crimea night, filmed with confidence at the wheel of a car, the master of the Kremlin came, he says, the progress of the reconstruction work. A spontaneous visit, says the president’s entourage, who has gone to meet certain residents, visibly handpicked. “It’s a little corner of paradise,” enthuses a resident. Residents then show them their new accommodation, urgently built by Russian entrepreneurs. The image aims to be reassuring.

A qualified cynical visit by Ukrainians

These images are nevertheless far from reality, that of a city entirely destroyed by intense bombardments, occupied and annexed since May by Russia. The Ukrainians condemned this visit, described as cynical. President Vladimir Putin also went to a renovated local theater. Power wants to give the feeling that life resumes its course, says Lukas Aubin, director of research at IRIS, a specialist in Russia. Barely returned from Donbass, Vladimir Putin opens a new sequence for him on Monday 20 March, the state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping, with whom he hopes to continue his strategic cooperation. “A new era for Russia,” said the Kremlin.