Ukraine: won't surrender Mariupol , Russia warns of 'catastrophe'

Ukraine has rejected Russian calls to surrender the port city of Mariupol, where residents are besieged with little food, water and power and fierce fighting shows little sign of easing. "There can be no question of any surrender, laying down of arms," the Ukrainska Pravda news portal cited Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk as saying early on Monday. Russia earlier called on Ukrainian forces in Mariupol to lay down their arms, saying a "terrible humanitarian catastrophe" was unfolding.

Mariupol has suffered some of the heaviest bombardments since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Many of its 400,000 residents remain trapped with little if any food, water and power. Vereshchuk said over 7,000 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities through humanitarian corridors on Sunday, more than half from Mariupol. She said the government planned to send nearly 50 buses there on Monday for further evacuations.  Fighting continued inside the city on Sunday, regional goveror Pavlo Kyrylenko said, without elaborating. Russia and Ukraine have made agreements throughout the war on humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians, but have accused each other of frequent violations of those.

In his latest appeal for help from abroad, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addressed the Israeli parliament by video link on Sunday and questioned Israel's reluctance to sell its Iron Dome missile defence system to Ukraine. "Everybody knows that your missile defence systems are the best... and that you can definitely help our people, save the lives of Ukrainians, of Ukrainian Jews," said Zelenskiy, who is of Jewish heritage. Zelenskiy welcomed the mediation efforts of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who has held numerous calls with him and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile, Swiss President Ignazio Cassis said at a rally in Bern that he hopes the “guns would soon fall silent” and that Switzerland was prepared to mediate or host negotiations. Cassis will visit the Polish-Ukrainian border on March 21.