Russia will ‘annihilate’ Mariupol fighters

Russia threatened to “annihilate” the thousands of Ukrainian troops still fighting for control of the embattled port city of Mariupol, after Moscow’s deadline for their surrender elapsed.

The units, including 400 foreign mercenaries, are holed up in the Azovstal steelworks, Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.

He said the Ukrainian government had forbidden them to surrender.

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Moscow had earlier set a deadline of 1000 GMT on Sunday for the remaining troops to surrender, saying that those who did so would live. Konashenkov said that if the fighters resisted any longer, “they will all be destroyed.”

There are some 2500 fighters in the plant, according to Russian sources, who said on Saturday that the city was already under Russian control and remaining Ukrainian fighters were surrounded in the steelworks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he would do everything possible to save Mariupol, a city of vital strategic importance to both sides in the conflict.

He also warned that he would abandon peace negotiations with Russia if the fighters were killed.

However, Moscow accused Zelensky of failing to make concessions in negotiations.

Russian parliamentary leader Vyacheslav Volodin said on Sunday that Zelensky had not moved at all, calling on Kiev to renounce its territorial claim to Luhansk and Donetsk now that Russian President Vladimir Putin had recognised them as independent states.

Zelenksky reiterated his demand for heavy weapons from the West to combat Russian troops, who are expected to start a major new offensive in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the near future.

At least five civilians were killed by Russian artillery and rocket fire in Kharkiv, while 13 were injured, according to Ukrainian media reports.

In further fighting, at least two people died in Zolote, in the Luhansk region, while four were injured, the governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Hayday, wrote on Telegram.

Meanwhile, missile attacks continued in the region around the southern city of Mykolaiv, according to regional governor Vitali Kim, who said in a video that he was expecting Russia to mobilise, which could take one to two months, which he said gave Ukraine enough time to stock up on weapons.

Later on Sunday, Zelensky called on US President Joe Biden to visit Ukraine.

“I think he’s the leader of the United States and that’s why he should come here to see,” Zelensky said during an interview with broadcaster CNN on Sunday.

“It’s his decision, of course,” Zelensky said, adding that any plans would depend on the security situation, but that he thought it likely Biden would come at some point.

Earlier, CNN reported that US weapons and ammunition had reached Ukraine, citing a White House official.

Washington had promised on Wednesday to send further weapons and ammunition worth up to $US800 million ($A1.1 billion) – including artillery, armoured vehicles and helicopters to support Ukraine ahead of the expected offensive in the Donbass region.

European countries should be sending weapons to Ukraine quickly to help it “survive”, the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

“I do not distinguish between heavy and light weapons. Ukraine must get what it needs for defence and what it can handle,” von der Leyen said.

Russia will ‘annihilate’ Mariupol fighters
Independent Information