An ultimatum from the Russian army to the Ukrainian fighters in the strategically important port city on the Azov Sea expired on Sunday. The Ukrainian government acknowledged that the fighters were already surrounded, but they would “fight to the end,” Prime Minister Denys Shmychal said. President Zelenskyy has threatened to end ceasefire talks with Moscow if Ukrainian militants are killed.
In a video speech on Sunday evening, Selenskyj criticized the delays in arms deliveries for his country. In view of an expected new offensive by Russian troops, this means “permission for Russia to take the lives of Ukrainians”. He did not name any countries, but Kyiv had recently urged Germany in particular to deliver arms more quickly. Zelenskyy warned that the Russian military is preparing an offensive in the Donbass industrial region in eastern Ukraine in the near future. “Just as Russian troops are destroying Mariupol, they also want to raze other cities and towns in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions,” he said. In Mariupol, which has been under siege for weeks, it is assumed that thousands of residents have been killed.