The city of Mariupol stood defiant on Sunday as the deadline for Ukrainian troops to surrender passed. Russia gave Ukrainian fighters in Mariupol a surrender or die ultimatum with a midday deadline, saying that those who lay down their arms would be spared and those who refuse would be killed.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine sent Easter greetings on Twitter saying: “The Lord’s Resurrection is a testimony to the victory of life over death, good over evil.”
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If the city of Mariupol is captured, Russian forces would join the forces in the Eastern Ukraine in an all-out battle in the coming days to gain control of Donbass. Moscow failed in its bid to gain control of Kyiv and has resorted to waging an all-out attack in the East of Ukraine.
The city of Mariupol has been hit very hard with approximately 21 000 people being killed in the street fights and heavy shelling by Russian forces. A maternity ward was hit by Russian airstrikes in the early days of the war and a theatre where civilians took shelter to avoid the shelling was struck killing 300 people.
Hanna Malyar, the Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister described the resistance of Ukrainian troops who refuse to lay down their weapons and surrender as “shield defending Ukraine”. The city of Mariupol has been surrounded but the fighters are refusing to surrender and are prepared to give their lives for their country.
Source: Daily Sabah, NBC News, image from NBC News of Ukrainian troops walking in Kharkiv near the shopping centre that was bombed.
