Top Ukrainian authorities said on Sunday that Ukrainian soldiers trapped in Mariupol have refused Russia’s requests for surrender and are continuing to fight an unremitting assault on the southern port city.
The city, which has been besieged by Russian soldiers since March 1, has not succumbed, according to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. Despite overwhelming odds, Ukrainian forces besieged in the city are holding out against the Russian invasion. They are, however, restricted to isolated pockets of resistance, and their numbers are unknown.
“There are still our military forces, our men, therefore they will fight till the end,” Shmyhal said on ABC News’ “This Week” on Sunday, after a Russian-imposed deadline for Kyiv’s forces in the city to surrender passed.
The Russian ultimatum was also rejected by an adviser to Mariupol’s mayor early on Sunday. “As of today, our defenders continue to hold the defence,” Petro Andriushchenko remarked on Telegram.
The Russian Ministry of Defense has urged all remaining Ukrainian forces in Mariupol to surrender by 1 p.m. local time on Sunday, threatening that those who do not comply will be “eliminated.” Later, the ministry stated that the ultimatum was not followed.
The cornered Ukrainian soldiers “were invited to voluntarily lay down guns and surrender in order to save their lives,” the Russian ministry claimed in a statement.
“However, according to the radio intercept, the Kiev nationalist administration banned conversations about surrendering,” the Ministry alleged.
It further claimed that “up to 400 foreign mercenaries who joined the Ukrainian military” were detained within the factory, including Europeans and Canadians, according to Ukrainian soldiers who had already surrendered. ” “All of them will be exterminated if there is any further resistance,” it stated.
“Not one significant city in Ukraine has fallen,” Shmyhal remarked, despite the Russian bombardment.
“Russian armed troops hold only Kherson, but all of the other cities are under Ukrainian control,” he added, adding that some of the cities in the surrounding territories were “besieged but still under Ukrainian control.”
Since Moscow gained control after the assault began in late February, he added, more than 900 Ukrainian cities, towns, and villages had been liberated from Russian rule.
“We are still fighting and battling in the Donbas region right now, but we have no intention of surrendering,” Shmyhal stated.
Mariupol is in a critical state. Russian bombardment has virtually devastated much of the city. A maternity facility and a theatre where up to 1,300 people were finding safety were among the civilian institutions attacked.
Up to 22,000 people may have killed in Mariupol, according to the military governor of Ukraine’s Donetsk province, where the city is located.
Despite the fact that many people have evacuated, an estimated 100,000 people remain in Mariupol and its environs, which are mostly under Russian control.
The majority of the Ukrainian defenders, according to Russian official media, are stationed at the Azovstal steel mill, one of Europe’s largest steel facilities with a network of rail links and furnaces. Resistance against the Russians, according to Andriushchenko, extended beyond this factory.
“Despite the occupiers’ effort to portray the hostilities as being isolated to the Azovstal Steel Plant, this is not the case,” Andriushchenko added. “There were clashes last night on Taganrog Street, which is five kilometres from Azovstal.”
