Vladimir Putin was surprised at a signing ceremony in St Petersburg this afternoon where he hailed the restoration of a tram line in Mariupol, a city in Russian-occupied south-east Ukraine, Sky News reports.

In a video broadcast, he said: “Roads are being built and repaired here, residential buildings, educational, health and energy institutions, industrial production, agricultural production are being improved.”

“We will, of course, continue to consistently and systematically solve all these problems, to ensure that life in the cities and villages of these regions normalizes,” Putin said.

Mariupol was one of the first cities to fall during the invasion and was heavily bombarded by Russian forces.

In March, Putin secretly visited the port city, located near Russia’s western border.

Since the capture of the city, Russia has remade the city in its own way, including turning the ruined steel plant, once one of the largest steel plants in Europe, into a “technological and ecological park”.

___

• Follow the latest events of the war in Ukraine LIVETEXT on HotNews.ro