The Ukrainian government has rejected Russian appeals to Ukrainian soldiers to lay down their weapons in Mariupol. “There will be no capitulation, weapons will not be laid down,” Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk told news site Ukrainska Pravda. That message had already been passed on to the Russians before. Vereshuk wants the Russian army to open a humanitarian corridor to the port city on the Sea of Azov.
Russia proposed a plan in which all armed units of Ukraine would have to leave “without weapons and ammunition along the route agreed with Ukraine”. The country demanded a formal written response from Ukraine before 3 a.m. tonight.
According to the Russians, a “terrible humanitarian disaster” is unfolding in the Ukrainian port city, which is due to the Ukrainian “nationalists”. They commit acts of terrorism in the neighborhoods they still control, writes the Russian state news agency Tass.
Also yesterday there was a humanitarian corridor from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhya. According to Ukrainian authorities, nearly 4,000 people have been evacuated through that route. Ukraine plans to send about 50 evacuation buses to Mariupol today.
Killed in Kiev shelling
Kiev, the capital, was rocked by multiple explosions late last night. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said several residential buildings in the western district of Podil were damaged and caught fire. A shopping center has also been hit. Rescue teams are on the scene, Klitschko reported via Telegram. At least four people have been killed, Klitschko said.
“According to the information we now have, several houses and one of the shopping centers were hit,” Mayor Klitschko said on his Telegram channel. According to him, firefighters are trying to extinguish the fire in the shopping center. Reuters news agency says it is not yet able to verify the reports from the neighborhood.
Negotiations
Negotiators from Ukraine and Russia agreed on a new round of negotiations today via video link. The teams want to talk to each other in the morning, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mychajlo Podoljak said.
The last high-level talks were last Monday. According to Podoljak, negotiations with Moscow to end the war could take weeks, but the Russians have become more realistic recently.
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