LVIV, UKRAINE --
Because it continued its barrage of the besieged metropolis of Mariupol, Russia demanded that Ukrainians put down their arms and lift white flags on Monday in change for protected passage out of city.
Ukraine angrily rejected the provide, which got here hours after officers mentioned Russian forces had bombed an artwork faculty that was sheltering some 400 individuals.
Whereas the battle for management of the strategically vital metropolis remained intense, Western governments and analysts see the broader battle shifting to a battle of attrition.
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Russian Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev mentioned it will permit two corridors out of Mariupol, heading both east towards Russia or west to different components of Ukraine.
Mariupol residents got till 5 a.m. Monday to reply to the provide. Russia did not say what motion it will take if it was rejected.
However Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk mentioned no.
"There will be no discuss of any give up, laying down of arms. We have now already knowledgeable the Russian aspect about this," she advised the information outlet Ukrainian Pravda. "I wrote: `As a substitute of losing time on eight pages of letters, simply open the hall."'
Mariupol Mayor Piotr Andryushchenko additionally rejected the provide, saying in a Fb publish he did not want to attend till morning to reply and cursing on the Russians, in accordance with the information company Interfax Ukraine.
The Russian Ministry of Defence mentioned authorities in Mariupol might face a army tribunal in the event that they sided with what it described as "bandits," the Russian state information company RIA Novosti reported.
Earlier bids to permit residents to evacuate Mariupol and different Ukrainian cities have failed or have been solely partially profitable, with bombardments persevering with as civilians sought to flee.
Talking in a video handle early Monday, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned about 400 civilians had been taking shelter on the artwork faculty when it was struck by a Russian bomb.
"They're underneath the rubble, and we do not know what number of of them have survived," he mentioned. "However we all know that we'll definitely shoot down the pilot who dropped that bomb, like about 100 different such mass murderers whom we have already got downed."
Tearful evacuees from the devastated Azov Sea port metropolis have described how "battles occurred over each avenue."
The autumn of Mariupol would permit Russian forces in southern and jap Ukraine to hyperlink up. However Western army analysts say that even when the surrounded metropolis is taken, the troops battling a block at a time for management there could also be too depleted to assist safe Russian breakthroughs on different fronts.
Three weeks into the invasion, Western governments and analysts see the battle shifting to a battle of attrition, with slowed down Russian forces launching long-range missiles at cities and army bases as Ukrainian forces perform hit-and-run assaults and search to sever their provide strains.
Ukrainians "haven't greeted Russian troopers with a bunch of flowers," Zelensky advised CNN, however with "weapons of their fingers."
Moscow can't hope to rule the nation, he added, given Ukrainians' enmity towards the Russian forces.
The strike on the artwork faculty was the second time in lower than per week that officers reported an assault on a public constructing the place Mariupol residents had taken shelter. On Wednesday, a bomb hit a theater the place greater than 1,000 individuals had been believed to be sheltering.
There was no rapid phrase on casualties within the faculty assault, which The Related Press couldn't independently confirm. Ukrainian officers haven't given an replace on the search of the theater since Friday, once they mentioned at the least 130 individuals had been rescued and one other 1,300 had been trapped by rubble.
Metropolis officers and help teams say meals, water and electrical energy have run low in Mariupol and combating has stored out humanitarian convoys. Communications are severed.
Town has been underneath bombardment for over three weeks and has seen a few of the worst horrors of the battle. Metropolis officers mentioned at the least 2,300 individuals have died, with some buried in mass graves.
Some who had been in a position to flee Mariupol tearfully hugged family members as they arrived by prepare Sunday in Lviv, about 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) to the west.
"Battles occurred over each avenue. Each home grew to become a goal," mentioned Olga Nikitina, who was embraced by her brother as she bought off the prepare. "Gunfire blew out the home windows. The condominium was beneath freezing."
Maryna Galla narrowly escaped together with her 13-year-old son. She mentioned she huddled within the basement of a cultural heart together with about 250 individuals for 3 weeks with out water, electrical energy or fuel.
"We left (residence) as a result of shells hit the homes throughout the highway. There was no roof. There have been individuals injured," Galla mentioned, including that her mom, father and grandparents stayed behind and "do not even know that we've left."
Unexpectedly sturdy Ukrainian resistance has dashed Russian President Vladimir Putin's hopes for a fast victory after he ordered the Feb. 24 invasion of his neighbor. In current days, Russian forces have entered Mariupol. However taking the town might show pricey.
"The block-by-block combating in Mariupol itself is costing the Russian army time, initiative, and fight energy," the Washington-based Institute for the Examine of Battle mentioned in a briefing.
In a blunt evaluation, the suppose tank concluded Russia failed in its preliminary marketing campaign to take the capital of Kyiv and different main cities shortly, and its stalled invasion.
U.S. Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin mentioned Ukrainian resistance means Putin's "forces on the bottom are primarily stalled."
"It is had the impact of him transferring his forces right into a woodchipper," Austin advised CBS on Sunday.
In Ukraine's main cities, tons of of males, girls and youngsters have been killed in Russian assaults.
In Kyiv, emergency companies reported 4 individuals killed by shelling not removed from the centre of the capital Sunday. Loud explosions had been heard as a shopping mall and vehicles in a car parking zone caught fireplace, they mentioned.
Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko mentioned Ukrainian forces shot down a Russian missile within the northwestern Podolskyi district.
In a video handle to the Israeli parliament on Sunday, Zelensky urged the lawmakers to take stronger motion in opposition to Russia. accusing Putin of attempting to hold out a "remaining resolution" in opposition to Ukraine. The time period was utilized by Nazi Germany for its genocide of some 6 million Jews throughout World Battle II.
Zelensky, who's Jewish, additionally famous that a Russian missile struck Babi Yar -- the spot in Kyiv the place over 30,000 Jews had been slaughtered in 1941 by the Nazis -- and is now Ukraine's essential Holocaust memorial.
The UN has confirmed 902 civilian deaths within the battle however concedes the precise toll is probably going a lot larger. It says practically 3.4 million individuals have fled Ukraine.
Estimates of Russian deaths differ, however even conservative figures are within the low 1000's.
Some Russians even have fled their nation amid a widespread crackdown on dissent. Russia has arrested 1000's of antiwar protesters, muzzled unbiased media and minimize entry to social media websites like Fb and Twitter.
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Related Press author Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, Ukraine, and different AP journalists all over the world contributed.
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