Ukrainian forces defending the besieged port city of Mariupol will fight to the end against the Russian army, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmykhal said.
"The city still hasn't fallen," he said. Our forces are still there, our soldiers, so we will fight to the end. For now, they are still in Mariupol," Shmihal told the American network ABC.
In the photographs from Mariupol published by Reuters, members of the pro-Russian forces can be seen controlling the citizens.
The Russian army claims to control almost all of Mariupol, while Ukraine's Azov Battalion is still holding out in Azovstal, a huge steel plant overlooking the Sea of Azov.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk said on April 19 that the Russians "refuse to open a corridor" for the evacuation of civilians from besieged Mariupol to Berdyansk.
The mayor of Mariupol previously said that around 40.000 civilians from the city were "forcibly deported" to Russia or other Russian-controlled regions of Ukraine.
Russia today called on Ukrainian forces and foreign mercenaries to leave the Azovstal metallurgical plant in besieged Mariupol by noon Moscow time (11:00 CET).
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"Everyone who lays down their arms is guaranteed to stay alive," the Ministry of Defense said, according to Reuters.
Russian-backed separatist forces said they were trying to invade Azovstal, separatist spokesman Eduard Basurin said, as reported by the RIA news agency.
It is the XNUMXth day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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