Ukraine, Russia ultimatum expired in Mariupol. Sirens in Kiev

Ukrainian war, anti-aircraft warning sirens have been ringing since this morning in almost all regions of the country, according to reports from the Kyiv Independent. In Kiev the alarms went off shortly after 4 in the morning with an invitation to the population to reach the air raid shelters. Read also In the meantime, Russia’s ultimatum to Mariupol’s last Ukrainian defenders has expired.
The Russian army has again called on Ukrainian forces in the port city to surrender. Mariupol is under severe attack from Russian forces who – taking into account the “catastrophe” in the Azovstal steel plant, trapped Ukrainian fighters and “foreign mercenaries” – have offered to cease hostilities and lay down their weapons since 6am ( Moscow time, 5 am in Italy). Russian general Mikhail Mizintsev said that “life is guaranteed to all who lay down their arms”. The Ukrainian fighters remaining in the city would have barricaded themselves inside the Azovstal steel mills. Mizintsev also provides details of how the Ukrainian surrender will work: the Russian side will raise the red flags, the Ukrainians the white ones “all around the perimeter of the Azovstal” as a sign of respect for the ceasefire. Then, all Ukrainian units will be allowed to withdraw from the area “without weapons or ammunition”. Mizintsev also called on all Ukrainian forces to lay down their arms, warning them not to “tempt fate, but to make the only right decision: stop hostilities and lay down your arms now “. The major general promised to respect “all the rules of the Geneva Convention for the treatment of prisoners of war.” The entire urban area of ​​Mariupol was cleared of Ukrainian troops and men from the Azov battalion, while the remaining soldiers of Kiev are locked inside the Azovstal steel mill, according to what was claimed yesterday by the Russian defense ministry quoted by the Tass news agency, according to which 1,464 Ukrainian soldiers surrendered to Mariupol. Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov further added that Ukrainian forces have lost four thousand men in Mariupol. “The entire urban area of ​​Mariupol has been completely cleared. The other Ukrainian soldiers are currently blocked in the Azovstal metallurgical plant,” the ministry said. “Their only chance to save their lives is to voluntarily lay down their weapons and surrender,” he added.
The elimination of the Ukrainian forces defending Mariupol would mean “the end of negotiations with Russia”, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday, according to the Kyiv Independent on Twitter. “Russia wants Mariupol’s defenders to surrender but Ukraine does not trust Moscow, recalling the Battle of Ilovaisk in 2014 when Moscow’s allied separatists massacred unarmed Ukrainian soldiers, Zelensky remarked. Mariupol’s defenders fight one. against six and they need heavy weapons as soon as possible “, added the Ukrainian president, according to whom what the city is experiencing is” a humanitarian crisis “. Meanwhile, the first weapons of the latest $ 800 million US military aid package have arrived in Kiev. This was reported by a White House official to CNN.