Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Ukrainian troops would continue to fight in the besieged port city, which has been devastated by a seven-week siege, as Russian missiles and rockets also hit other parts of the country. The city of Mariupol seems to be on the verge of falling into what would give Moscow its biggest victory in the war so far. Six dead after Russian bombing of Lviv – live updates for Ukraine Russian troops will then be released for the expected new offensive to take control of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. It will also allow Russia to fully secure a land route to the Crimean peninsula, which it occupied from Ukraine in 2014, and deprive the country of a major port and valuable industrial assets. The last resistance pocket of Mariupol consists of several thousand fighters located in an extensive four-square-mile steel plant, filled with tunnels. Many civilians, including children, are also being sheltered at the Azovstal plant, the city’s patrol chief told local television. Soldiers and civilians are trapped as there seems to be little hope of military rescue by Ukrainian forces soon. Image: A satellite image shows the steel plant where the fighters are located Vladimir Putin’s army gave the city’s defenders an ultimatum to surrender or die by noon on Sunday, saying those who laid down their arms “had their lives guaranteed”. But the Ukrainian fighters ignored it, just as they rejected the previous ultimatums. “We will fight to the end for victory in this war,” Mr Shmyhal vowed on Sunday. He said Ukraine was ready to end the war through diplomacy if possible “but we have no intention of giving up”. In other news: • Six killed in rocket attacks in western Lviv – where Ukrainians have fled for safety • Ukraine “may have to accept the loss of territory” – says military expert • Pope Francis celebrates in a speech from St. Peter’s Square • Austrian Chancellor says Vladimir Putin believes he is winning the war Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said the “trajectory” situation in Mariupol could be a “red line” in the course of negotiations. Relentless bombings and street battles there have left 21,000 dead, according to Ukrainian estimates. Witnesses, meanwhile, reported multiple explosions in the city of Lviv early Monday. Lviv and the rest of western Ukraine have been less affected by the fighting than other parts of the country, and the city was considered a relatively safe haven. The city’s mayor, Andriy Sadovyi, said five rockets had hit the city and that emergency services had responded. Russia has also carried out airstrikes near the capital, Kyiv, and elsewhere in an apparent attempt to weaken Ukraine’s military capability in the face of an impending attack on Donbas. Following the humiliating sinking of the Russian Black Sea Fleet flagship last week in what the Ukrainians boasted was a rocket attack, the Kremlin has pledged to intensify its attacks on the capital. Russia said Sunday it had attacked an ammunition factory near Kyiv overnight with precision-guided missiles, the third such strike in several days. Image: Mariupol looks set to fall after weeks of bombing Explosions were also reported in Kramatorsk, the eastern city where rockets killed at least 57 people at a train station earlier this month. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy used his nightly speech to the nation to say that Russian troops in southern Ukraine had committed torture and abductions as he called on the world to respond. “Torture wards are being built there,” said Zelenskyy. “They kidnap representatives of local governments and anyone deemed visible in local communities.” Subscribe to Ukraine War Calendars on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and Spreaker The president also said that the theft of humanitarian aid has caused famine. He added that Putin’s forces were creating autonomous states and introducing Russian currency into parts of the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions. The intensifying Russian bombardment of Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv, has killed 18 people and injured 106 in the last four days alone, Zelenskyy added. “This is just a deliberate terror. Kolmadakia, artillery against ordinary residential neighborhoods, against ordinary citizens,” he said. Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 0:24 “The Russians want to end Donbass” The Ukrainian president also said that a planned Russian attack on eastern Ukraine “will begin in the near future.” Mr Zelenskyy has again called for increased sanctions against Russia, including the entire banking sector and the oil industry. “Everyone in Europe and America already sees Russia openly using energy to destabilize Western societies,” he said. “All this requires more speed from Western countries in preparing a new, strong package of sanctions.”
