Russia’s choice to Mariupol: Surrender or face ‘complete cleansing’

Russian state media reported the news of the Russian defence ministry offering the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol a chance to surrender. A Twitter user whose research focus is Kremlin noted RIA Novosti the Russian state-run news outlet saying “After a complete cleansing of Mariupol, the team of the DPR ombudsman, together with the law enforcement agencies of the republic, will enter the city and collect evidence of all the crimes of the Ukrainian national battalions for the tribunal”. 

The Ukraine government in Kyiv as well as Mariupol city authorities rejected Russia’s terms wherein the Russian Defence Ministry told the Azov Sea port city to surrender before dawn on Monday.   

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk rejected Russia’s terms, detailed in an eight-page document, late Sunday. 

She said “There can be no discussion of any surrender or of laying down arms”, and added, “We have already informed the Russian side about it. I wrote: ‘Instead of wasting your time to write an 8-page letter – open the corridor.’ We have informed the UN and the ICRC and are awaiting a response from the international community. This is a conscious manipulation and true hostage taking”, CNN reported. 

Also Read | ‘Chapter from WWII’: Kyiv says Moscow forcibly taking citizens to Russia

According to the Russian ministry, if Mariupol observes a ceasefire, Russia would open up humanitarian corridors half an hour later. The Mariupol city council responded to this in a Facebook post, saying “They gave time until the morning to formulate a response. But why wait so long?”, and followed the message with an expletive. 

Mariupol has long been under Russian attack with reports of shelling on a maternity ward, and more recent reports of a drama theatre and art school, housing civilians being bombed. A Red Cross account described the situation there as desperate with people attacking each other for food. Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky, on Sunday, said that what Russian forces were doing to Mariupol is an “act of terror that will be remembered for centuries”.