A Russian army ultimatum to Ukrainian fighters in the strategically important port city on the Sea of Azov expired on Sunday. The Ukrainian government acknowledged that the fighters were already surrounded, but they would “fight to the end”, Prime Minister Denys Shmychal said. President Zelenskyy has threatened to end ceasefire talks with Moscow if Ukrainian militants are killed.
In a video speech on Sunday night, Selenskyj criticized the delays in arms deliveries to his country. In view of an expected new offensive by Russian troops, this means “permission for Russia to take the lives of Ukrainians”. He did not name any countries, but Kiev recently urged Germany in particular to deliver weapons more quickly. Zelenskyy warned that the Russian military is preparing an offensive in the industrial region of Donbass in eastern Ukraine in the near future. “Just as Russian troops are destroying Mariupol, they also want to destroy other cities and towns in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions,” he said. In Mariupol, besieged for weeks, thousands of residents are believed to have been killed.