(Kyiv) Ukraine will not “lay down its arms and leave the besieged city” of Mariupol, its deputy prime minister told Ukrainian media overnight from Sunday to Monday, in response to the ultimatum posed by Russia.
Posted at 10:57 p.m.
Updated at 11:41 p.m.
“There is no question of talking about surrender or laying down arms. We have already informed the Russian side about this,” Iryna Vereshchuk told the Ukrayinskaya Pravda newspaper. “It’s deliberate manipulation and 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.
“We call on the official authorities in Kyiv to be reasonable and cancel the instructions given previously, which obliged the militants to sacrifice themselves and to become ‘martyrs of Mariupol’”, demanded Mikhail Mizintsev, director of the Russian National Center for defense management, in a briefing issued by the Ministry of Defense of Russia.
“Lay down your arms,” he said. “A terrible humanitarian catastrophe has developed […] All those who lay down their arms are guaranteed to be able to leave Mariupol in complete safety”.
“Historic choice”
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 is opening humanitarian corridors from Mariupol to the East, and in agreement with the Ukrainian side, to the West”, detailed Mr. Mizintsev.
The Russian Defense Ministry said “comfortable buses” were waiting at checkpoints to transport refugees to several destinations, and that anyone arriving in Russia would receive three hot meals a day and round-the-clock medical assistance.
Nearly 60,000 “rescued residents of Mariupol” are already in Russia and “are now talking openly about all the atrocities and mass crimes committed” by the Mariupol authorities, she said.
The Russian Ministry of Defense had addressed earlier in the evening to the authorities of Mariupol via the messaging application Telegram: “You are [face à un] historical choice – either you are with your people or you are with the criminals”.
“The occupiers continue to behave like terrorists,” replied Iryna Vereshchuk on Telegram. “They say they agree [pour instaurer un] humanitarian corridor and in the morning they bombed the evacuation site. The government is doing everything possible. The most important thing for us is to save the lives and health of our citizens”.
According to local authorities, Russian soldiers forcibly transported around 1,000 residents to Russia, depriving them of their Ukrainian passports – a possible war crime.
Mme Vereshchuk told the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper that children were “kidnapped” from orphanages.
“350 children will be forcibly taken to Russia without allowing us to collect them,” she said, asking the Russian authorities to tell them “in which orphanage” they will be placed, and “why”. “It’s terrorism,” she repeated.
Mariupol, a predominantly Russian-speaking strategic port in the southeast, has been one of the main targets of Moscow’s attacks.
The streets of the city are strewn with corpses, while negotiations between delegations continue, without concrete outcome for the time being.