No Signs Yet Of Ukrainian Soldiers In Mariupol Surrendering To Russia

Mariupol County, Ukraine. (Wikimedia Commons / MVS.gov.ua / Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine)

JAKARTA - Russia asked Ukrainian troops in besieged Mariupol to lay down their weapons starting Sunday at 06.00 Moscow time (10.00 WIB), but there has been no report of anything 30 minutes after the ultimatum.

Air raid sirens sound regularly across Ukraine, but there have been no reports of fighting in the port city.

Russia said its troops had secured the Mariupol urban area and that only a small number of Ukrainian fighters remained inside a steel factory on Saturday.

Moscow's claim that it has captured Mariupol – the biggest battlefield and area of the worst humanitarian disaster – cannot be independently verified.

If the claims are true, Mariupol would be the first major Ukrainian city to fall to the Russians since their invasion on February 24.

"Taking into account the disastrous situation developing at the Azovstal steelworks, as well as out of sheer humanitarian principles, the Russian Armed Forces offered the nationalist battalion militants and foreign mercenaries from 06.00 (Moscow time) on April 17, 2022 to stop the violence and lay down their weapons," the ministry said. defense of Russia in his statement, quoted from Antara, Sunday.

"All who laid down their arms were given assurances that their lives would be saved," the statement said, adding that Ukrainian fighters could leave the factory at 10am without weapons and ammunition.

There has been no response from the Ukrainian government in the capital Kiev.

"The situation is still very difficult" in Mariupol, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told news portal Ukrainska Pravda.

"Our soldiers were surrounded, as were the injured. There was a humanitarian crisis… However, they were trying to defend themselves," he said.

Moscow said its fighter jets had pounded a tank repair shop in Kiev on Saturday. An explosion was heard and smoke was seen over the Darnytskyi district. The mayor said at least one person had died and medics were trying to help the victims.

The Ukrainian military said Russian fighter jets that had taken off from Belarus had fired missiles into the Lviv area near the Polish border and that four cruise missiles had been intercepted.

The western city, which has so far been relatively quiet from fighting, has become a safe haven for refugees and international aid agencies.