Moscow steps up assault on besieged port city as new diplomatic push begins
Ukraine has rejected Moscow’s ultimatum to surrender the besieged port city of Mariupol and accused Vladimir Putin’s forces of illegally deporting thousands of children to Russia. As Moscow stepped up one of the most destructive assaults of an invasion that has already displaced 10mn civilians, Kyiv said Russia had deported 2,389 children. The Donetsk People’s Republic, the Moscow-backed separatist group, said it had evacuated close to 100 children from Mariupol to Bezimenne, a town near the Ukraine-Russia border.
Neither claim could be independently verified. Russia’s military had given Ukraine until 5am on Monday to respond to its surrender terms for Mariupol, which demanded fighters lay down arms and warned local officials they would face “military tribunals” if they resisted. Russia entered the 26th day of its invasion still struggling to take control of any of Ukraine’s biggest population centres or make significant territorial advances, particularly in the north.
The continued fighting will set the backdrop for a busy week of diplomacy in Europe, including summits for the leaders of the EU, the Nato alliance and the G7 heads of government. Joe Biden, US president, will also visit Poland on Friday, according to US officials. Capturing Mariupol would give the Russians control of a swath of Ukraine’s southern coast along the strategically important Sea of Azov, and potentially allow Moscow to release troops tied up in the siege for other offensive operations. Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s defence minister, said “heroic” efforts to hold the city were “saving Kyiv, Dnipro and Odesa”.
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