Ukraine refuses Russia's demand to surrender Mariupol

A church damaged in Mariupol by Russian shelling.

(Image credit: AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk rejected Russia's demand that Ukraine surrender the city of Mariupol.

"There can be no question of any surrender, laying down of arms," Vereshchuk said early Monday, per the Ukrainska Pravda news website. "We have already informed the Russian side about this."

The port city of Mariupol has been under siege for weeks, with residents going without power and water and suffering from food and medicine shortages. On Sunday, Russian Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev presented a proposal to Ukraine: if soldiers put down their arms by 5 a.m. Moscow time (10 p.m. ET), Russian troops would open humanitarian corridors so residents could escape the "terrible humanitarian catastrophe."

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Since the invasion began on Feb. 24, Mariupol has seen some of the heaviest fighting, and officials in the city say they estimate at least 2,300 people have died. Because of the overwhelming number of deaths, many have been buried in mass graves.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.