Ukrainians In Mariupol Defy Russian Deadline To Surrender

The shattered port city of Mariupol appeared on the brink of falling to the Russians on Sunday after seven weeks under siege, in what would give Moscow a crucial success following its failure to storm the Ukrainian capital and the sinking of its Black Sea flagship, Adam Schreck and Mstyslav Chernov reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: “We will fight absolutely to the end, to the win, in this war,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, seen above attending a wartime wedding, said

The Russian military estimated that 2,500 Ukrainian fighters were holding out at a hulking steel plant with a warren of underground passageways in the last pocket of resistance in Mariupol.

Moscow’s forces gave a midday deadline for their surrender, saying those who laid down their weapons were “guaranteed to keep their lives,” but the Ukrainians did not submit, just as they rejected previous ultimatums.

“We will fight absolutely to the end, to the win, in this war,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on ABC’s “This Week.” He said Ukraine is prepared to end the war through diplomacy, if possible, “but we do not have intention to surrender.”

Seizing Mariupol would free up Russian forces to join an expected all-out offensive for control of the Donbas, the industrial region in the country’s east where the Kremlin has focused its war aims after abandoning, for now at least, any attempt to take Kyiv, the capital.

The siege and relentless bombardment of Mariupol have come at a terrible cost, with much of the city in ruins and officials estimating the Russians have killed at least 21,000 people. An estimated 100,000 remain in the city, out of a prewar population of 450,000, and are trapped without food, water, heat, or electricity.

Ukrainian Marines are doing the fighting in Mariupol even as drones, missiles and artillery pound Russian, Chechen and Georgian forces in the city. Ukrainian troops also linked up with the city’s defenders.

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