WAR CRIMINAL ON WALKABOUT

Putin visits the city his forces blew to pieces

- AMY-CLARE MARTIN

VLADIMIR Putin defied claims he is a war criminal by going walkabout in a Ukrainian city almost obliterated by his invading forces.

The despot was filmed speaking with people Russia said were locals as he took a tour and drive around the ravaged streets of Mariupol.

It was Putin's first visit to the Donbas region since he launched the invasion in February last year and comes days after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against him.

He arrived in Mariupol by helicopter then drove himself around the city's "memorial sites", Russian reports said. The state Rossiya 24 channel showed Putin chatting with people outside a newly-built residential complex before being shown around one of the flats.