Russia is urging Ukrainian troops to leave the heavily contested port city of Mariupol unarmed. Ukraine rejects this – in clear words.
Kyiv – The Ukrainian leadership has categorically rejected an ultimatum issued by the Russian military to the defenders of Mariupol to surrender.
“There will be no surrender, no laying down of arms,” Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk told Ukrayinska Pravda early Monday morning. This had already been communicated to the Russian side. Rather, she demanded that the Russian military open a humanitarian corridor to the embattled port city on the Azov Sea.
Two hour window
Russia had asked the Ukrainian troops in Mariupol to lay down their arms and leave the city on Monday morning. For this purpose, a corridor should be set up between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. Moscow time (8 a.m. to 10 a.m. CET), Major General Mikhail Mizintsev said on Sunday, according to the Russian state agency TASS.
Accordingly, Russia proposed to Ukraine a plan according to which all armed units of Ukraine should leave the city “without weapons and ammunition by the route agreed with Ukraine”. Russia insisted on a “formal written response” from Ukraine to the proposals by 5:00 a.m. Moscow time (3:00 a.m. CET) on Monday morning.
To this end, the Russian military had sent the Ukrainian side an eight-page letter. “Instead of wasting your time on eight pages of letter, just open a corridor,” Vereshchuk quoted from her reply to opponents. dpa
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