Russian defense minister Sergey Shoygu visited the occupied city of Mariupol to inspect new facilities built there, the defense ministry said on Monday, March 6.

The minister visited a new medical building, Ministry of Emergency Situations center, and apartment buildings currently under construction, the ministry said.

He also heard reports on a new Medical and Biological Agency complex, schools, and planned water pipeline that would connect the city to Russia’s Rostov region, the ministry said.

Shoygu is the highest-ranking Russian military official to visit Mariupol since the 2022 invasion began.

Moscow has been accused of destroying residential buildings in Mariupol in order to replace the Ukrainian population in the city and deepen its ties with Russia. Some 350,000 people have been displaced from the mostly destroyed city, the UN has estimated. Credit: Russian Ministry of Defence via Storyful