Putin’s Mariupol go to is an emblem of his failure

What was going via the thoughts of Vladimir Putin as he travelled through the devastated streets of Mariupol on his first go to to occupied Ukraine for the reason that invasion final February? Was he happy with the handiwork of his armed forces in destroying or damaging some 2,500 buildings and nearly razing to the bottom the huge Azovstal steelworks, scene of a heroic last-ditch resistance by defending troops?

The Russians are utilizing Mariupol to consolidate their maintain within the Donbas, bulldozing the wrecked buildings and developing a brand new city with flats, faculties, hospitals and even a live performance corridor. The ruined metallurgical plant, one in all Europe’s greatest, has been changed into a ‘tech and eco’ park. They’re attempting to erase its Ukrainian previous, seeing Mariupol as a strategically vital hyperlink to Crimea, annexed in 2014.

However no quantity of reinvention can disguise the truth that Mariupol represents not a triumph for Russia however an emblem of its failure. It was not this metropolis that President Putin wished to be driving round when he ordered his troops to cross the border, however Kyiv. But that prospect is as distant as ever.

His shock go to on Saturday got here simply 24 hours after being accused of struggle crimes by the Worldwide Felony Court docket. Maybe this was a gesture of defiance, an indication by Putin that he was not afraid to depart his nation regardless of the warrant, although he now regards the Donbas as a part of Russia. He can also have wished to point out President Xi Jinping of China, who’s due in Moscow for talks this week, that he can go away the Kremlin.

The ICC has cited the pressured removing of Ukrainian kids within the arraignment although numerous different crimes might be laid on the Kremlin’s door. Nevertheless, the probabilities of ever bringing Putin to justice should be slim. Russia is much extra highly effective than the international locations whose leaders have ended up at The Hague and it’s laborious to think about any political or army growth that may see him handed over or arrested.

Nonetheless, as Dominic Raab, the Justice Secretary, writes within the Telegraphthe warrant is a “vital step ahead for accountability and exhibits that the worldwide justice system is working”. However that’s true solely up to a degree. Amongst these welcoming the ICC transfer was Joe Biden and but the USA doesn’t recognise the court docket. Isn’t it time it did.