Ukraine refuses to surrender Mariupol; Russia blows up Kyiv shops

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Defying demands to give up the city of Mariupol by dawn, Ukraine’s president says the country will not surrender and its people will not accept Russian occupation.

Volodymyr Zelensky and his wife Olena Zelenska pleaded with Ukrainians to “hold on” and refuse to lay down their weapons even as Moscow demonstrates it is willing to turn to deadlier tactics and slaughter civilians.

A shopping mall in the capital and a bus carrying children were among the latest targets of attacks.

At least eight people were killed when a bomb hit shops in Kyiv.

There have also been reports Russia has now turned its sights on another port city, Odesa, with pictures appearing on Tuesday morning showing homes damaged by shelling from warships.

Here’s the latest.

‘Ukraine will not surrender’

Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine will never bow to ultimatums from Russia and cities such as Kyiv, Mariupol or Kharkiv will not accept Russian occupation.

Russia had set Ukraine a deadline of dawn Monday (local time) to surrender in the besieged port city of Mariupol, promising civilians and fighters a safe passage out of the city if they gave up their weapons.

Ukraine ignored the ultimatum.

“The enemy desperately does not want civilians to break through,” Olena Zelenska, the president’s wife, said in a statement.

“But they will. Please hold on, dear people, I beg you. I will repeat my husband’s words, ‘Ukraine doesn’t abandon her people.’”

Mr Zelensky issued a threat to Russian soldiers, saying they would struggle to get home and “that is why our soldiers help them with the path to God’s judgment.”

What they would find in hell, he said, would be much like the besieged cities of Ukraine.

“I am sure they receive only one punishment, one for all: the eternal cellar,” Mr Zelensky said.

“Forever under the bombs. Forever without food, water and heat. For everything they did to our people, ordinary Ukrainians.”

Civilians killed and children wounded

Russia has attacked buses carrying civilians, the governor of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region told Reuters.

Governor Oleksandr Starukh claimed “four children were taken to hospital”.

Meanwhile, the death toll from a missile attack in the capital has risen to eight.

Al Jazeera reports the force of the explosion at the Retroville shopping mall shattered all the windows in the high-rise building next door and twisted their metal frames.

Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko said nearby schools and kindergartens were also damaged, while New York Times journalists at the scene reported that the carpark had become a “sea of flames”.

Photographs showed six bodies laid out in front of the mall, but so far eight people have been confirmed dead. That number is expected to rise.

Tweet from @KyivIndependent

The Retroville mall had been the site of a gym, shops and major takeaway chains like KFC and McDonalds.

One of the victims is an employee working at Leroy Merlin, the French home retailer said.

Following the news, the Ukrainian branch of Leroy Merlin called on the public to sign a petition demanding that its headquarters pulls out of Russia.

“Today, Leroy Merlin Ukraine was directly touched by the tragedy,” the company’s wrote after the attack on the mall.

“And a destroyed shop is nothing compared to the lives of colleagues lost. We will always remember.”

Troops held back on land – but more attacks from sea

The BBC reports that a senior American defence official has said the Russian invasion remains largely stalled across all their lines of advance.

Troops not having moved any further towards Kyiv since last week, the source said.

The Russians have launched more than 1,100 missiles, but may be facing some “inventory issues” while some missiles have failed – either to launch or to explode when they hit a target, the official said.

But there has been an increase in naval activity in the Black Sea.

Photographs of damaged homes have emerged out of Odesa – a key port considered a strategic target if Russia is attempting to increase its control of that stretch of coast.