Ukraine refuses to surrender port city Mariupol as Russia warns of humanitarian 'catastrophe'
"There can be no surrender or laying down of guns," Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said early Monday, according to the Ukrainska Pravda news portal. "We have already alerted the Russian side of this," Iryna added.
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FollowUkraine rejected Russian proposals to relinquish the port city of Mariupol, where inhabitants are trapped with no food, water, or power, and ferocious conflict shows no signs of abating. "There can be no surrender or laying down of guns," Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said early Monday, according to the Ukrainska Pravda news portal. "We have already alerted the Russian side of this."
Russia had earlier urged on Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupol to lay down their guns, describing the situation as a "grave humanitarian tragedy." It stated that defenders who did so would be given safe passage out of the city, and that humanitarian corridors would be created on Monday at 1000 Moscow time (0700 GMT).
Mariupol has been subjected to some of the most intense bombardments since Russia entered Ukraine on February 24. Many of its 400,000 citizens are still stranded, with little or no food, water, or electricity. Fighting resumed within the city on Sunday, according to regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko, who did not elaborate.
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On Sunday, approximately 7,000 individuals were evacuated from Ukrainian cities via humanitarian corridors, with more than half of them coming from Mariupol, according to Vereshchuk. She stated that the administration intended to deploy approximately 50 buses there on Monday for more evacuations.
Throughout the war, Russia and Ukraine have agreed to humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians, but have accused one other of frequently violating those accords. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the Israeli parliament via video connection on Sunday, questioning Israel's reluctance to transfer its Iron Dome missile defence system to Ukraine. In his daily video plea to Ukrainians, Zelenskyy subsequently praised Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's attempts to mediate between him and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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Capturing Mariupol would aid Russian forces in securing a land corridor to Crimea, which Moscow took from Ukraine in 2014. Putin claims that Russia's "special operation" aims to disarm Ukraine and hunt out dangerous nationalists. Western countries have labelled it an aggressive war of choice and slapped harsh sanctions aimed at damaging Russia's economy.
According to Ukraine and its Western supporters, Russian ground forces have made little progress in the recent week, instead focusing on artillery and missile strikes. As of Saturday, the United Nations human rights office said that at least 902 people had been murdered, while the true toll was likely far higher. According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, 10 million Ukrainians have been displaced, with 3.4 million fleeing to neighbouring nations such as Poland. Officials in the region stated that they had reached their ability to comfortably host refugees.
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