The Russian Defence Ministry has given Ukrainian fighters, who are in an industrial complex in the besieged port city of Mariupol, a fresh ultimatum, according to Reuters.
"Russia's armed forces, based purely on humanitarian principles, again propose that the fighters of nationalist battalions and foreign mercenaries cease their military operations from 1400 (2.00 PM) Moscow time on 20th April and lay down arms," the Russian Defence Ministry said.
Not a single Ukrainian soldier accepted the same offer on Tuesday, the ministry said in a statement.
Russian-backed fighters are reportedly trying to storm the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol where Ukrainian troops and civilians are said to be holding out.
In a post on Telegram, the Mariupol City Council said that despite the advantage of the many Russian troops in the city, they still have not been able to take Mariupol, and so "they want to level" the steel plant.
It further said that Russia was not deterred by the fact that civilians are also taking refuge in the complex.
Ukrainian President Zelensky said the situation remained "as tough as possible without any changes", and the fate of tens of thousands of civilians remains unknown.
Russia assaulted cities and towns along a boomerang-shaped front hundreds of miles long and poured more troops into Ukraine on Tuesday in a potentially pivotal battle for control of the country’s eastern industrial heartland of coal mines and factories.
If successful, the Russian offensive in what is known as the Donbas would essentially slice Ukraine in two. In Mariupol, the now-devastated port city in the Donbas, Ukrainian troops said the Russian military was dropping heavy bombs to flatten what was left of a sprawling steel plant and hit a hospital where hundreds were staying.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Moscow’s forces bombarded numerous Ukrainian military sites, including troop concentrations and missile-warhead storage depots, in or near several cities or villages.
Those claims could not be independently verified.
In what both sides described as a new phase of the war, the Russian assault began Monday along a front stretching more than 480 kilometers from northeastern Ukraine to the country’s southeast.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Russian military was throwing everything it has into the battle, with most of its combat-ready forces now concentrated in Ukraine and just across the border in Russia.
(with inputs from AP)
