Russia’s armed forces gave Ukrainian troops until noon local time to observe the terms. Russia also carried out fresh strikes, saying that it destroyed 68 military assets in Ukraine, including a munitions factory close to the capital, Kyiv.
Ukrainian President President Volodymyr Zelensky called for further negotiations to resolve the situation in Mariupol and end the bloodshed, describing conditions in the besieged city as “just inhuman."
Russia “deliberately continues to destroy our cities, deliberately tries to destroy everyone who is there in Mariupol," Mr. Zelensky said in a video address late Saturday. “There has not been a single day since the start of the blockade of Mariupol when we haven’t sought a solution."
The seizure of Mariupol by Russian forces would cap off a protracted and sluggish effort to capture swaths of Ukraine’s southeast ahead of what is expected to be an intense wave of fighting in the eastern Donbas region and secure a land corridor from Russian territory to the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Ukraine’s remaining military troops in Mariupol are isolated at a metallurgical plant in an industrial area, and Russian forces have focused on dislodging them from the facility to claim control of the city.
“We guarantee that all those who lay down arms will stay alive," Mikhail Mizintsev, the head of the National Defense Control Center of the Russian armed forces, said in an early morning briefing.
Col. Gen. Mizintsev called for the Ukrainian and Russian sides to raise flags at 5 a.m. local time and announce the start of a cease-fire that it said would allow Kyiv’s forces to leave the battlefield unharmed before noon the same day or face destruction by Russian forces. He said 1,464 Ukrainian service members had already surrendered to Russian forces.
“They are not being subjected to any violence or psychological pressure. Each of them is given the right to connect with relatives," he said.
Russia has previously issued ultimatums to those defending Mariupol. Ukraine hasn’t commented on the latest claims.
The city, where some 100,000 residents out of a prewar population of 450,000 remain—largely deprived of food, water and medicine—has seen some of the war’s most intense shelling. Its capture by Russia would allow Moscow to claim a major victory in what it calls the “special military operation" announced by President Vladimir Putin on Feb. 24.
“Do not test your fates by the example of the Mariupol tragedy," Col. Gen. Mizintsev said, addressing Ukrainian defenders of the port city, large parts of which have been razed to the ground by Russian forces. “Make the only correct decision to stop fighting and lay down your arms now."
Russian officials on Saturday said that a general in the 8th Army, which had been deployed to the Mariupol offensive, was killed in combat. Maj. Gen. Vladimir Frolov was a deputy commander in the 8th Army, they said. No further details were provided. Several other generals have already been killed in the conflict, particularly in the early days in the campaign.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk said Kyiv had been unable to agree on a cease-fire with Moscow that could allow for the safe passage of civilians from areas of fighting including Mariupol. She said 1,449 people had successfully evacuated through such corridors on Saturday. Russia said Friday that it had facilitated the evacuation from Mariupol of 168,000 civilians, of which 139,678 had gone to Russia.
Russia’s Defense Ministry on Saturday published video of a military ceremony in Sevastopol, Crimea, featuring what it said were crew members of the Moskva, the Russian Black Sea Fleet flagship that U.S. defense officials and Ukraine say was hit and sunk by two Ukrainian Neptune missiles on Thursday. The video appeared to show Moskva Capt. Anton Kuprin, who Ukrainian officials have said was killed aboard the cruiser.
There has been no independent confirmation of the use of Neptune cruise missiles, which have thus far been under development.
Russia has said the vessel sank from damage suffered from a fire that caused ammunition stores to explode. It said that the source of the fire was unknown and that the ship sank in stormy weather as it was towed to port.
“The traditions of the Moskva guided missile cruiser will be carefully safeguarded and continued, as has always been the case in the Navy," the Defense Ministry said in a post on Telegram.
