April 17 (Reuters) – Russia’s Defense Minister said if Ukrainian soldiers still fighting Mariupol lay down their arms by 6 a.m. (0300 GMT) Moscow time on Sunday their lives will be spared, the news agency reports. Russian Tass.
Russia has indicated that the remaining soldiers – which it says consist of Ukrainian and foreign fighters – are drawn from the Azovstal steelworks.
The Tass news agency quoted Colonel-General Mikhal Mizintsev, an officer of the Russian Ministry of Defense, the situation in the steelworks is “catastrophic”. (Report David Ljunggren; French version Camille Raynaud)