Ukraine Rejects Calls To Surrender Port City Mariupol As Russia Threatens Of Humanitarian 'Catastrophe'

Over 7,000 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities including more than half from Mariupol through humanitarian corridors on Sunday

Evacuations from Mariupol in Ukraine (Getty Image)

New Delhi: As the Russian aggression continued with bombardment of the art school in Mariupol, where about 400 residents had taken shelter, Ukraine on Monday rejected the calls to surrender the port city.

"There can be no question of any surrender, laying down of arms," the Ukrainska Pravda news portal quoted Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk saying on Monday, according to Reuters.

"We have already informed the Russian side about this," Vereshchuk further added.

Russia has asked Ukrainian forces in Mariupol to lay down their arms, saying a "terrible humanitarian catastrophe" was unfolding. It indicated that defenders who did so will be given safe passage out of the city and humanitarian corridors would be opened on Monday, according to Reuters.

Mariupol remains one of the worst affected city due to heaviest bombardments since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. Almost 400,000 residents remain trapped with little if any food, water and power.

Over 7,000 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities including more than half from Mariupol through humanitarian corridors on Sunday, according to Vereshchuk. She said the government planned to send nearly 50 buses there on Monday for further evacuations.

Even as both sides made agreements throughout the war on humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians, accustions of frequent violations against each other has continued. In a latest appeal on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posed a question addressing the Israeli Parliament over its reluctance to sell its Iron Dome missile defence system to Ukraine.

"Everybody knows that your missile defence systems are the best... and that you can definitely help our people, save the lives of Ukrainians, of Ukrainian Jews," said Zelenskiy, who is of Jewish heritage.

Zelenskyy later welcomed the mediation efforts of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who has held numerous calls with him and Russian President Vladimir Putin.