In an announcement, it mentioned that the surrounded Ukrainian troopers at a hulking metal plant "had been provided to voluntarily lay down arms and give up in an effort to save their lives".
"Nevertheless, the Kiev nationalist regime, in response to the radio intercept, forbade negotiations about surrendering," the Ministry claimed.
It additionally asserted that in response to Ukrainian troopers who had beforehand surrendered "there are as much as 400 overseas mercenaries who joined the Ukrainian forces" trapped on the plant, together with Europeans and Canadians.
"In case of additional resistance, all of them shall be eradicated," it mentioned.
With the final Ukrainian fighters in Mariupol refusing to give up, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned Russia "is intentionally making an attempt to destroy everybody who's there." He mentioned Ukraine wants extra heavy weapons from the West instantly to have any probability of saving the port metropolis on the Sea of Azov.
"Both our companions give Ukraine the entire essential heavy weapons, the planes, and with out exaggeration instantly, so we will cut back the stress of the occupiers on Mariupol and break the blockade," he mentioned, "or we achieve this by way of negotiations, during which the function of our companions needs to be decisive."
Earlier, Zelenskyy had instructed Ukrainian journalists that the persevering with siege of Mariupol, which has come at a horrific price to trapped and ravenous civilians, might scuttle makes an attempt to barter an finish to the struggle.
A Russian Defence Ministry spokesman mentioned Saturday that Ukrainian forces had been pushed out of a lot of the metropolis and remained solely within the Azovstal metal mill, the place tunnels enable the defenders to cover and resist till they run out of ammunition.
The Russians already management what's left of town after weeks of bombardment. Placing the metal plant to take the remaining is a part of Russia's preparations for the anticipated assault in japanese Ukraine.
Capturing Mariupol would enable Russian forces within the south, which got here up by way of the annexed Crimean Peninsula, to totally hyperlink up with troops within the Donbas area, Ukraine's japanese industrial heartland and the main target of the anticipated offensive.
Nicolai received his household to security. Now, they have been separated
Ukraine's deputy defence minister, Hanna Malyar, mentioned Sunday that Mariupol's defenders have tied up important Russian forces besieging town. She described town as a "protect defending Ukraine" that forestalls the Russian troops encircling town from advancing to different areas of the nation.
Malyar mentioned that the Russians have continued to hit Mariupol with airstrikes and seemed to be making ready an amphibious touchdown to beef up their forces within the metropolis.
In the meantime, scattered Russian assaults elsewhere in Ukraine had been an explosive reminder to Ukrainians and their Western supporters that the entire nation stays beneath menace from an invasion now in its eighth week.
After failing to seize Ukraine's capital and the humiliating lack of the flagship of its Black Sea Fleet, and Russia's navy command vowed to step up missile strikes on the capital, Kyiv. The Russians mentioned they hit an armoured car plant on Saturday, a day after focusing on a missile plant.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko mentioned Saturday's strike killed one particular person and wounded a number of. He suggested residents who fled town earlier within the struggle to not return.
"We're not ruling out additional strikes on the capital," he mentioned. "You probably have the chance to remain a bit of bit longer within the cities the place it is safer, do it."
Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov mentioned the plant was amongst a number of Ukrainian navy websites hit with "air-launched high-precision long-range weapons." The Ukrainian president's workplace reported missile strikes and shelling in eight areas throughout the nation between Friday and Saturday.
The governor of the Lviv area in western Ukraine, which has been solely sporadically touched by the struggle's violence, reported airstrikes on the area by Russian Su-35 plane that took off from neighbouring Belarus.
In Kharkiv within the northeast, Mayor Ihor Terekhov mentioned three individuals had been killed and 34 wounded Saturday. One explosion believed to have been brought on by a missile despatched rescue employees scrambling close to an outside market. The employees mentioned one particular person was killed and no less than 18 wounded.
"All of the home windows, all of the furnishings, all destroyed. And the door, too," recounted shocked resident Valentina Ulianova.
The day earlier than, rockets hit a residential space of Kharkiv, killing a 15-year-old boy, an toddler and no less than eight different individuals in Ukraine's second-largest metropolis, officers mentioned.
Nate Mook, a member of the World Central Kitchen NGO run by movie star chef José Andrés, mentioned in a tweet that 4 employees in Kharkiv had been wounded by a strike. Andrés tweeted that workers members had been unnerved however secure.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, who met with Vladimir Putin this previous week in Moscow — the primary European chief to take action because the invasion started February 24 — mentioned the Russian president is "in his personal struggle logic" on Ukraine.
In an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," Nehammer mentioned he thinks Putin believes he's profitable the struggle and "now we have to look in his eyes and now we have to confront him with that, what we see in Ukraine.''
Nehammer mentioned he instructed Putin what he noticed throughout a go to to the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, the place greater than 350 our bodies have been discovered together with proof of killings and torture beneath Russian occupation, and "it was not a pleasant dialog."
Zelenskyy estimated that 2500 to 3000 Ukrainian troops have died within the struggle, and about 10,000 have been wounded. The workplace of Ukraine's prosecutor basic mentioned Saturday that no less than 200 kids have been killed, and greater than 360 wounded.
Russian forces even have taken captive some 700 Ukrainian troops and greater than 1000 civilians, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk mentioned Saturday. Ukraine holds about the identical variety of Russian troops as prisoners and intends to rearrange a swap however is demanding the discharge of civilians "with none situations," she mentioned.
Russia's warning of stepped-up assaults on Kyiv got here after it accused Ukraine on Thursday of wounding seven individuals and damaging about 100 residential buildings with airstrikes in Bryansk, a area bordering Ukraine. Ukrainian officers haven't confirmed hitting targets in Russia.
Russian Main Basic Vladimir Frolov, whose troops have been amongst these besieging Mariupol, was buried Saturday in St Petersburg after dying in battle, Gov. Alexander Beglov mentioned. Ukraine has mentioned a number of Russian generals and dozens of different high-ranking officers have been killed within the struggle.