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Ukraine rejected on Sunday night the ultimatum of Russia demanding the capitulation of the besieged city of Mariupol. Joe Biden has announced a visit to Poland for Friday.
“There is no question of talking regarding surrender or laying down arms. We have already informed the Russian side regarding this,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk told the Ukrayinskaya Pravda newspaper. “This is deliberate manipulation and a real hostage-taking,” she added of the request.
The Russian Defense Ministry had called on Ukraine to “lay down its arms” and demanded a “written response” to its ultimatum before 5 a.m. Monday, in the name of safeguarding the inhabitants and infrastructure of the city of Mariupol.
Humanitarian corridors
“We call on the official authorities in Kyiv to be reasonable and rescind the instructions given previously, which forced the militants to sacrifice themselves and become ‘martyrs of Mariupol’,” said Mikhail Mizintsev, director of the Russian National Center for defense management, in a message released by the Ministry of Defense of Russia.
According to Mizintsev, Russia and Ukraine agreed on a route for Mariupol residents to reach kyiv-controlled territory on March 21. “From 10 a.m. Moscow time (…) Russia opens humanitarian corridors from Mariupol to the East, and in agreement with the Ukrainian side, to the West”, detailed Mr. Mizintsev.
“The occupiers continue to behave like terrorists,” replied Iryna Vereshchuk on Telegram. “They say they agree (to establish a) humanitarian corridor and in the morning they bomb the place of evacuation. The government is doing everything possible. The most important thing for us is to save lives and the health of our citizens”.
The Deputy Prime Minister asked that priority be given to a humanitarian corridor, allowing around 350,000 people still stranded in Mariupol to leave.
Biden and Poland
Shortly following, the White House announced that US President Joe Biden will travel to Warsaw on Friday to meet his Polish counterpart and discuss the Russian invasion.
“The President will discuss how the United States, alongside our allies and partners, responds to the humanitarian and human rights crisis that Russia’s unwarranted and unprovoked war on Ukraine has created.” , the White House said in a statement, adding that Mr Biden’s trip would come following he visited Belgium to meet with leaders from NATO, the G7 and the European Union.
The southern port city of Mariupol is a central target in Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. It forms a land bridge between Russian forces in Crimea to the southwest and Russian-controlled territory to the north and east.
“Ghost town”
The predominantly Russian-speaking city has been under heavy shelling from Russian forces since the invasion began on February 24. The Consul General of Greece in Mariupol, who organized several evacuations of Greek nationals, compared this city to Guernica or Aleppo, on his arrival in Athens on Sunday.
According to the military administration of the Donetsk region, Mariupol has become “a ghost town”. “Currently, more than 80% of the city’s infrastructure is damaged or destroyed. Of this 80%, regarding 40% is not recoverable,” detailed Pavlo Kirelenko, an official.
The United Nations has described the humanitarian situation in the city as “extremely serious”, with “residents facing critical and life-threatening shortages of food, water and medicine”.
In an interview broadcast by CNN, the Ukrainian president said he was “ready for negotiations” with the Russian president. “I have been ready for the past two years and I believe that without negotiations the war will not be stopped,” he said.
He had previously denounced the bombardment of the Mariupol art school, destroyed by Russian strikes while 400 people – women, children and the elderly – were taking refuge there according to local authorities.
Zelensky hopes for Jerusalem
During the night from Sunday to Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky estimated that Jerusalem “would be the right place to find peace”.
“Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is trying to find a way for negotiation with Russia and we are grateful to him. For all his efforts, so that sooner or later we can start the discussion with Russia. Maybe in Jerusalem. It’s the right place to find peace. If it’s possible,” the head of state said in a video posted on Telegram.
In kyiv, Russian strikes killed at least one person on Sunday evening. A huge explosion shook the city during the attack and fires were visible in the rubble of the Retroville shopping center, according to AFP journalists.
“Enemy fire” caused a fire on several floors of the shopping center located in the Podilsky district, in the northwest of the city, and set fire to several vehicles, for their part specified the emergency services on Facebook .
The United Nations has estimated that around 10 million Ukrainians have fled their homes, of whom around a third have gone abroad, mainly to Poland.