Ukraine has said it will fight “absolutely to the end” as the last known pocket of resistance in Mariupol hopes to defend the city against Russian forces.
Prime Minister Denis Schmihal said Ukrainian troops would continue to fight in the besieged port city, which has been reduced to rubble in a seven-week siege as Russian missiles and missiles hit other parts of the country.
The city of Mariupol seems to be on the verge of falling into what will give Moscow the biggest victory in the war so far.
Six killed after Russia bombs Lviv – live updates in Ukraine
Russian troops will then be released for the expected new offensive to take control of the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine.
It will also allow Russia to fully secure a land corridor to the Crimean peninsula, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014, and deprive the country of a major port and valuable industrial assets.
The last pocket of resistance in Mariupol is made up of several thousand fighters, who are in a scattered steel plant with an area of four square miles, surrounded by tunnels.
Many civilians, including children, are also sheltered at the Azovstal plant, the city’s patrol police chief told local television.
Soldiers and civilians are in hiding, as there seems to be little hope of a military rescue from Ukrainian forces any time soon.
Image: A satellite image shows the steel plant where the fighters are hiding
Vladimir Putin’s military has given the city’s defenders an ultimatum to “surrender or die” by noon on Sunday, saying those who laid down their arms were “guaranteed to save their lives.”
But Ukrainian fighters ignored it, just as they rejected previous ultimatums.
“We will fight absolutely to the end, to victory, in this war,” Mr Schmihal promised on Sunday.
He said Ukraine was ready to end the war through diplomacy if possible, “but we have no intention of surrendering.”
Other events: • Six reported missile casualties in the western city of Lviv – where Ukrainians are fleeing for safety • Ukraine “may have to accept loss of territory” – says military expert • Pope Francis marks “Easter of war” in address from St. Peter’s Square • Austrian Chancellor says Vladimir Putin believes he wins the war
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the “terrible” situation in Mariupol could be a “red line” in the negotiations.
Relentless bombings and street fighting there have killed 21,000 people, according to Ukrainian estimates.
Meanwhile, witnesses reported numerous explosions in the city of Lviv early Monday.
Lviv and the rest of western Ukraine were less affected by the fighting than other parts of the country, and the city was considered a relatively safe haven.
Mayor Andriy Sadovi said five rockets had hit the city and that emergency services were responding.
Russia has also carried out airstrikes near the capital Kyiv and elsewhere in an apparent effort to weaken Ukraine’s military capabilities ahead of an expected attack on Donbass.
After the humiliating sinking of the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s flagship last week in what Ukrainians boasted of as a missile attack, the Kremlin has vowed to step up strikes on the capital.
Russia said on Sunday that it had attacked an ammunition factory near Kyiv at night with precision missiles, the third such strike in so many days.
Image: Mariupol looks set to fall after weeks of bombing
Explosions were also reported in Kramatorsk, the eastern city, where rockets killed at least 57 people at a station earlier this month.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky used his evening address to the nation to say that Russian troops in southern Ukraine were torturing and kidnapping as he called on the world to react.
“Torture chambers have been built there,” Mr Zelenski said.
“They are kidnapping representatives of local authorities and anyone who is considered visible to local communities.”
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The president also said that the theft of humanitarian aid had caused famine.
He added that Putin’s forces were creating separatist states and introducing Russian currency in parts of the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions.
Heavy shelling of Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, has killed 18 people and wounded 106 in just the past four days, Zelensky added.
“This is nothing but deliberate terror. Mortars, artillery against ordinary residential neighborhoods, against ordinary civilians,” he said.
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0:24 “Russians want to finish Donbass”
The Ukrainian president also said that the planned Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine “will begin in the near future.”
Zelensky again called for tougher sanctions against Russia, including its entire banking sector and oil industry.
“Everyone in Europe and America already sees Russia openly using energy to destabilize Western societies,” he said.
“All this requires greater speed from Western countries in preparing a new, powerful package of sanctions.
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