Ukraine

MARIUPOL/LVIV/KYIV, Ukraine, March 21 (Reuters) - Ukraine defied a Russian demand that its forces lay down arms before dawn on Monday in Mariupol, where hundreds of thousands of civilians have been trapped in a city under siege and already laid to waste by Russian bombardment.

Russia's military had ordered Ukrainians inside the city in the country's southeast to surrender by 5 a.m., saying those who did so would be permitted to leave, while those who stayed would be turned over to tribunals run by Russian-backed separatists.

LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian officials defiantly rejected a Russian demand that their forces in Mariupol lay down their arms and raise white flags Monday in exchange for safe passage out of the besieged port city.

As Russia intensified its effort to pound Mariupol into submission, its ground offensive in other parts of Ukraine has become bogged down. Western officials and analysts say the conflict is turning into a grinding war of attrition, with Russia bombarding cities.

Lviv, Mar 21 (AP) Ukrainian officials defiantly rejected a Russian demand that their forces in the besieged strategic port city of Mariupol lay down arms Monday and raise white flags in exchange for safe passage out.

Russia has been barraging the encircled southern city on the Sea of Azov, hitting an art school sheltering some 400 people only hours before offering to open two corridors out of the city in return for the capitulation of its defenders, according to Ukrainian officials.

KIEV, March 20. /TASS/: Russian and Ukrainian delegations are expected to resume online talks on March 21, the Ukrainiskaya Pravda media outlet reported on Sunday.

"An online meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations is planned for March 21," it said, citing high-ranking sources.

It also cited David Arakhamia, the leader of the Servant of the People ruling party’s parliamentary faction, as saying that the talks continue every day. "And today is no exception. At the level of expert groups," he said.

LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said early Sunday the siege of the port city of Mariupol would go down in history for what he said were war crimes committed by Russian troops.

“To do this to a peaceful city, what the occupiers did, is a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come,” Zelenskyy said in a video address to the nation.

Russian forces have pushed deeper into the besieged and battered city, where heavy fighting shut down a major steel plant and local authorities pleaded for more Western help.

LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian authorities said Sunday that Russia’s military bombed an art school sheltering some 400 people in the embattled port city of Mariupol, where Ukraine’s president said an unrelenting Russian siege would be remembered for centuries to come.

It was the second time in less than a week that city officials reported a public building where residents had taken shelter coming under attack. A bomb hit a Mariupol theater with more than 1,300 believed to be inside on Wednesday, local officials said.

Ukraine’s president said Russia is trying to starve his country’s cities into submission but warned Saturday that continuing the invasion would exact a toll on Russia for “generations.” The remarks came after Moscow held a mass rally in support of its bogged-down forces.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused the Kremlin in an overnight video address of deliberately creating “a humanitarian catastrophe ” and appealed again for Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet with him to prevent more bloodshed.

18 March 2022; MEMO:Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba yesterday called on Turkey to be a "guarantor" in any future deal with Russia, along with the United Nations Security Council's five permanent members – which include Russia – and Germany.

"Ukraine made an offer on the collective security agreement: P5 [the UN Security Council's five permanent members], Turkey and Germany," Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, told reporters in the Ukrainian city of Lviv.

18 March 2022; MEMO: Massive price spikes for food and energy sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine will push over 40 million people into extreme poverty, the Centre for Global Development (CGDEV) said on Friday, warning against export curbs and sanctions on Russian food production, Reuters reports.

LVIV, Ukraine March 18 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he spoke with the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen on Friday and Ukraine expects progress to be made on its application to join the European Union in the coming months.

"Had substantial conversation with EC President," Zelenskiy said on Twitter. "EC opinion on UA (Ukraine) application for #EU membership will be prepared within few months. UA Government and EC are instructed. Moving to our strategic goal together."