Russia’s ultimatum to surrender the last remaining Ukrainian troops in the besieged port city of Mariupol has passed as Moscow came close to full control of the city in what would be its biggest takeover since invading Ukraine in February.
The city has been facing a humanitarian catastrophe for weeks as Russian tanks advanced toward the center, destroying neighborhoods along the way. The number of civilians killed during the siege is unknown. The Ukrainian-controlled council has accused Russian soldiers of collecting bodies and burning them in a mobile crematorium.
On Saturday night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the situation in the city as “inhuman” and accused Russia of “deliberately trying to destroy everyone” there.
Vladimir Zelenski: The situation in Mariupol is “inhuman” – video
As a possible recognition that Russia is close to capturing the city, he said Ukrainian troops control only a small part of Mariupol and face a much larger number of Russians.
The situation was “very difficult” in Mariupol, Zelenski told the Ukrainian Pravda news portal. “Our soldiers are blocked; the wounded are blocked. There is a humanitarian crisis … However, the boys are defending themselves. “
After failing to overcome Ukrainian resistance in the north, the Russian military redirected its ground offensive in the eastern Donbass area, while continuing long-range strikes elsewhere, including the capital, Kyiv.
Russia has given the remaining Ukrainian troops a deadline of 6 a.m. Moscow time (3 a.m. GMT) to lay down their weapons and a deadline of 1 p.m. (10 a.m. GMT) for an evacuation that passed without any signs of compliance by Ukrainian fighters hiding in the smoldering the Azovstal steel plant.
Steelmaking, one of the largest metallurgical plants in Europe with a maze of railroad tracks and blast furnaces, has become a last resort for outnumbered defenders.
A spokesman for Russia’s Defense Ministry, Major General Igor Konashenkov, said the Russian military had learned from intercepted communications that the Ukrainian military command had banned its troops from surrendering. “All those who will continue the resistance will be destroyed,” Konashenkov said.
The city has witnessed some of the fiercest fighting and worst civilian suffering since the February 24 invasion, with bodies scattered on ruined streets and thousands trapped in horrific conditions underground.
The fall of Mariupol, the largest trading port in the Sea of Azov, from which Ukraine exports grain, iron and steel and heavy machinery, would be an economic blow to Ukraine and a symbolic and strategic victory for Russia, connecting its Donbass territory with the region. Crimea, which annexed in 2014
Zelensky said that if Russian forces kill Kyiv’s troops, which remain to defend the city, then the ongoing negotiation process to end almost two months of fighting will be halted. “The destruction of all our boys in Mariupol – what they are doing now – could put an end to any format of negotiations,” he said.
Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation Mikhail Fedorov said the city was on the brink of a “humanitarian catastrophe” and warned that the country was gathering evidence of alleged Russian atrocities there.
“We will hand everything over to The Hague. There will be no impunity, “he said.
Ukrainian authorities have called on people in the Donbass to move west to escape a large-scale Russian offensive to seize Donetsk and Luhansk.
Elsewhere in Ukraine on Sunday, there were more reports of sporadic Russian strikes around major popular centers following the humiliating loss of the Russian warship Moscow in the Black Sea last week.
The mayor of the town of Brovary, near Kyiv, said a rocket attack had damaged infrastructure. Russia has said it has destroyed an ammunition factory near the capital, according to RIA. It was the third attack in so many days against targets around Kyiv: on Friday, Russian forces destroyed a plant allegedly producing one of the missiles used to sink Moscow, and on Saturday, Russian missiles allegedly hit a plant for military hardware in the capital Darnytskyi region.
In the northeast, Russian artillery shelled many neighborhoods in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city. Mayor Igor Terekhov said three people were killed and 34 injured in strikes on Saturday.
Despite the desperate situation in Mariupol, Ukraine has said it is detaining Russian forces in other parts of the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.
On Sunday, Ukrainian police in Donetsk said Russian forces had opened fire on tanks, multiple rocket launchers and heavy artillery in 13 Ukrainian-controlled settlements in the past 24 hours, killing two civilians.
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