Pavel Polityuk

LVIV (Ukraine) – Monday’s rejection by Russia of Russian demands for Mariupol to be surrendered to it was a sign that Ukraine is not allowing Russians to take control. Residents are being forced to live in famine conditions and have little water, food or power. This humanitarian crisis puts increasing pressure on European leaders, who must tighten their sanctions against Moscow.

Russian demands for Ukrainian forces at Mariupol to surrender their arms were rebuffed by the Ukrainian government. They also requested that safe passage be allowed out of Mariupol and that humanitarian corridors are opened starting Monday, 1000 Moscow (0700 GMT).

According to Ukrainska Pravda, “There cannot be any question of surrendering or laying down arms,” Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister was quoted as saying.

“We’ve already alerted the Russian side.”

Mariupol was the most severely bombarded since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 24. As fighting rages around them, many of the 400,000 inhabitants remain in captivity.

Vereshchuk stated that over 7,000 people were evacuated through humanitarian corridors from Ukrainian cities on Sunday. More than half of them came from Mariupol. For further evacuations, Vereshchuk stated that the government would send 50 buses to Ukraine on Monday.

Russia and Ukraine made numerous agreements regarding humanitarian corridors that would allow civilians to be evacuated, however they frequently accused one another of violating those.

Talks between European Union leaders will likely focus on the Mariupol crisis and other cities in Ukraine this week, as they discuss imposing more sanctions on Russia.

The EU’s foreign ministers will discuss the topic on Monday before President Joe Biden arrives at Brussels on Thursday to meet with NATO’s 30 allies and the EU.

Reuters was told by diplomats that the Baltic states, including Lithuania, are calling for an embargo. Germany warns against too rapid action due to Europe’s high energy prices.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, addressed Israel’s parliament via videolink on Sunday to ask for assistance from overseas. He also questioned Israel’s refusal to sell its Iron Dome missile defense system to Ukraine.

Zelenskiy is of Jewish heritage. He said that “everybody knows that your missile defense system are the best” and could help save lives, including those of Ukrainian Jews.

Zelenskiy appreciated the efforts of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennet, who held many phone calls with him along with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He stated in his daily video address for Ukrainians, “sooner rather than later we’ll begin to have discussions with Russia, perhaps in Jerusalem”.

Telegram reported that Mariupol’s council stated on Telegram, several thousand people had been “deported to Russia” in the last week. Russian news agencies claimed that hundreds of people had been taken by buses from Mariupol to Russia recently.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, told CNN that deportation accounts are “disturbing”, and “unconscionable” but Washington has not confirmed their authenticity.

Reuters couldn’t independently verify these claims. Russia denies targeting civilians.

Last EU diplomat to evacuate Mariupol from Greece was its consul-general in Mariupol.

He said, “Whatever I saw, I pray no one will ever be able to see.”

Moscow and Kyiv reported progress in finding a political solution that would ensure Ukraine’s safety while keeping NATO out – an important Russian demand. However, each side claimed the other was dragging its feet.

FEW ADVANCES

Russian forces could capture Mariupol to secure a land route to the Crimea peninsula which Moscow annexed after Ukraine’s 2014 invasion.

Putin claims that Russia’s “special operations” are aimed at disarming Ukraine as well as rooting out terrorists. The West has imposed severe sanctions against Russia in order to make it an economically crippling country.

According to the Western backing of Ukraine, Russian ground forces made very few progresses in the past week. Instead they have been focusing on missile strikes and artillery.

Oleksiy Arestovych, Zelenskiy’s advisor, stated that there was a relative calm over the last 24 hours with no rocket strikes against cities. According to him, frontlines were “practically frozen”.

Russian shelling in Donetsk on Sunday left five civilians injured and three killed. Pavel Kirilenko is the head of Donetsk region military administration. One person was injured and killed in Kharkiv, while two people were injured and killed in Luhansk.

Vitali Klitschko of Kyiv said there had been several explosions in Podil, and that firefighters were putting out a huge flame at the shopping center. He claimed that at least one person had been killed.

Reuters couldn’t verify the reports.

According to the U.N. Human Rights Office, at most 902 civilians were killed on Saturday. However, it is likely that there was a much greater number.

Sumy Regional Governor Dmytro Zohytskyy declared that the chemical plant, located in Sumy’s northeastern region was hazardous because it had leaked ammonia. We don’t know what caused this leak.

According to the U.N refugee agency, approximately 10 million Ukrainians were displaced.

Reuters video showed dozens protestors in the south city of Kherson. Some were covered in Ukraine’s flag blue and yellow, while others chanted “Go home!” in Russian at two Russian-marked military vehicles. They turned around and fled.

Margarita Morozova, an 87-year-old woman who survived the Nazi Germany’s Siege of Leningrad during World War Two and now lives in Kharkiv (East Ukraine) for the past 60+ years.