Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Mariupol, the Russian Defense Ministry announced today, referring to the city in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, which Russian forces captured last year after a months-long siege.

Shoigu went to the zone of Russian operations in Ukraine to inspect the reconstruction work in Donbas, the Russian Ministry of Defense clarified in its statement today.

The Russian army had disclosed on Saturday an inspection carried out by Shoigu in a “command post” on the front in eastern Ukraine, while the battle for the capture of Bakhmut is raging.

“As part of his move to the zone of the special military operation,” Shoigu conducted inspections of areas that have already been rebuilt as well as new construction sites in Mariupol, according to the statement, which did not specify the date on which the Russian defense minister visited the city.

In Mariupol, Shoigu mainly visited a medical center, a first aid center and a new residential district comprising 12 buildings, the statement added, noting that he was also presented with a report on building schools in the port city, which had been besieged for months before came under the control of Russian forces last May.

Shoigu was also presented with a report on the construction of a major aqueduct that would connect the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine with Russia’s Rostov region, according to the same source.

The visit comes amid heavy fighting for control of Bakhmut, in the Donetsk region, a city of limited strategic importance but which has gained symbolic importance as the two camps have been fighting there for months.

In late December, Shoigu made two such visits to the “special operations” zone of Russian forces in Ukraine.