Russia is waiting Sunday for holdout Ukrainian fighters in the besieged port city of Mariupol to surrender their weapons.
"There was no sign of compliance by Ukrainian fighters holed up in the vast Azovstal steelworks overlooking the Sea of Azov,” according to Reuters, hours after the 0300 UTC deadline.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Saturday, “The situation in Mariupol remains as severe as possible. Just inhuman ... Russia is deliberately trying to destroy everyone who is there in Mariupol.”
If Russia does capture Mariupol, it would be Russia’s first capture of a major Ukraine city since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
Zelenskyy said he talked with the British and Swedish prime ministers Saturday about the situation in Mariupol, as well as toughening sanctions against Russia, and defense and support for Ukraine.
Russia has also resumed missile attacks on several Ukrainian locations, as well as shelling attacks on other cities.
“Although we have heard many intentions from those who wanted to help” Ukraine fight off the Russian troops, Zelenskyy said in his address, none of them have been realized yet.”
An explosion in Kharkiv Saturday destroyed a community kitchen set up by celebrity chef Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen, which is feeding people in several locations across war-torn Ukraine and in neighboring countries.
Andres told The Associated Press that the group’s chefs will continue to cook in Ukraine and the attack on the kitchen demonstrates that “to give food in the middle of a senseless war is an act of courage, resilience and resistance.”
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
