Day 26: Russia gives Ukraine ultimatum to surrender Mariupol

Russia has given Ukraine an ultimatum to surrender Mariupol, warning that the southeastern port city is experiencing “a terrible humanitarian catastrophe.”

“Lay down your arms,” Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, director of the Russian National Defense Management Center, said in a briefing. “A terrible humanitarian catastrophe has developed,” he said, adding that “all who lay down their arms are guaranteed safe passage out of Mariupol.”

Russia: Humanitarian situation in some Ukraine cities 'catastrophic', Kiev to blame

The Russian military says Ukrainian nationalists are sabotaging humanitarian activities and responsible for a quickly deteriorating situation in some Ukrainian cities.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk, however, rejected the ultimatum. “There can be no talk of any surrender, laying down of arms. We have already informed the Russian side about this,” she told the news outlet Ukrainian Pravda.

23 killed in Ukraine missile attack in Donetsk

Russia said Monday an attack by Ukrainian forces on Donetsk left 23 people dead, with the military accusing Kiev of committing a “war crime.”

Moscow accused Ukraine’s army of firing a Tochka-U missile at a residential area in Donetsk, in one of the most serious attacks on the city since the start of the Russian operation.

Ukrainian authorities denied the accusations by Russia.

EU mulls oil embargo against Russia

EU governments said they are planning to discuss whether to impose an oil embargo on Russia as they gather this week with US President Joe Biden for a series of summits.

Biden has already sanctioned Russian oil imports to the US over the military operation.

"We are working on a fifth round of sanctions and many new names are being proposed," a senior EU diplomat told Reuters.

NATO reinforcing eastern flank

NATO has, meanwhile, begun sending Patriot missile batteries to Slovakia.

“I am happy to confirm that the first units in charge of deploying the Patriot air defense system are gradually arriving to Slovakia,” Slovakia’s Defense Minister JaroslavNad wrote in a Facebook post.

The system will be operated by German and Dutch troops and will initially be deployed at the Sliac airport in central Slovakia.

Moscow has, on numerous occasions, warned NATO against taking such measures, saying undue militarization would never help the situation on the ground.

Ukrainian President VolodymyrZelensky again pleaded to negotiate directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin in an interview with CNN, warning a “third World War” may come if peace isn’t reached between the two countries soon.

Speaking to CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, Zelensky said he’s “ready” to meet with Putin, saying negotiations between the two leaders are crucial to ending the war that began on February 24.

“If there’s just 1% chance for us to stop this war, I think that we need to take this chance,” said Zelensky.

Russian and Ukrainian delegations have held multiple rounds of peace talks without any major progress thus far.

On Tuesday, Zelensky indicated a willingness to concede on a key Russian demand, saying Ukraine must “accept” it will not be able to join NATO, though Ukraine has maintained it won’t agree to Russia’s demand of Ukraine becoming a neutral country like Austria and Sweden.

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