The US and EU have condemned President Vladimir Putin’s first visit to Crimea since Russia annexed the peninsula from Ukraine in March.

The US state department said the trip was “provocative and unnecessary”. The Kiev government called it a “gross violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty”.

Mr Putin praised Crimea for joining Russia, as he marked the Soviet victory over the Nazis in World War Two.

As he visited, there were deadly new clashes in south-eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said at least 20 pro-Russian activists and a Ukrainian security officer died in the clashes in the port of Mariupol.