Ukraine has rejected the 5 a.m. deadline on Monday to lay down their weapons and surrender the besieged city of Mariupol to Russia. The deputy prime minister instead asked the Russians to allow hundreds of thousands of terrified civilians a safe passage out so they can take refuge in neighbouring countries.
Iryna Vereshchuk said, “We can’t talk about surrendering weapons” hours before the deadline which Russia set out for the city of Mariupol. “We have already informed the Russian side about it,” she said, demanding that Russia opens way for corridors for 350 000 people trapped in the city to make their way out and take refuge elsewhere.
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The Russian Ministry of Defence had earlier given the people of Ukraine a deadline of 5 a.m. on Monday to lay down their weapons warning that more than “court martial” awaits those who refuse to surrender. Mikhail Mizintsev, the head of the Russian National Defence Control Center, said, “We call on units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, territorial defence battalions, foreign mercenaries to stop hostilities, lay down their arms.”
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of committing war crimes in Mariupol. The Russian forces bombed a maternity hospital not so long ago which claimed four lives, one of which was the pregnant woman who was seen carried out of the hospital on a stretcher. She and her unborn child soon afterwards passed away.
Earlier on Sunday Ukrainian officials accused Russia of bombing an art school in Mariupol that was being used as a civilian shelter. No agreement has been reached as the battle in Ukraine continues.
Source: Aljazeera, CNN, The Moscow Times, The Guardian, image from The Moscow Times of a shopping centre destroyed by Russian shelling
