Russia-Ukraine war live updates: Mariupol on the brink as surrender deadline passes.
Russia offered to spare the lives of Ukrainian soldiers fighting in Mariupol if they laid down their arms Sunday as the weekslong resistance in the besieged port city appeared to finally be coming to an end.
The offer, made “out of purely humane principles,” gave Ukrainian forces still fighting in the city until 6 a.m. Moscow time (11 p.m. ET) to surrender, the Russian military said in a statement reported by the news agency TASS.
There were no immediate reports of activity from Ukrainian forces in Mariupol. Were it to fall, it would be the first major city to be taken by Russian forces since the Feb. 24 invasion.
There was also no immediate response from Kyiv.
A missile attack early Sunday damaged infrastructure in Brovary, near Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, Mayor Igor Sapozhko said in an online post.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there was a “humanitarian crisis” in the city and that his soldiers were “blocked and wounded.”
The Russian military could begin moving some of its forces back into Ukraine as soon as this weekend or early in the week, two senior U.S. defense officials said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/live-blog/rcna24716
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