Surrender city of Mariupol TONIGHT or face 'terrible humanitarian catastrophe': Russia issues horrifying ultimatum to Ukraine after bombing art school sheltering 400 and sending thousands hundreds of miles in mass deportations

Russia has told Ukrainian forces to lay down weapons in Mariupol in exchange for safe passage out of the city
This comes amid claims that thousands are being taken from the city and forced into labour in remote Russia
Boris Johnson has asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky what his military needs to battle invasion
The city council in the besieged city of Mariupol claimed an art school sheltering 400 people was bombed

Russia called on Ukrainian forces in Mariupol to lay down their arms, saying a 'terrible humanitarian catastrophe' was unfolding as it said defenders who did so were guaranteed safe passage out of the city and humanitarian corridors would be opened from it at 10am Moscow time (7am GMT) on Monday.

Fighting continued inside the besieged city today, regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said, without elaborating, as claims today came that thousands from the port city are being taken for forced labour into remote parts of Russia.

The Mariupol City Council said in a statement: 'The occupiers are forcing people to leave Ukraine for Russia. Over the past week, several thousand Mariupol residents have been taken to the Russian territory.'

The council also claimed that Mariupol evacuees' cellphones and documents were inspected by Russian troops before they were sent to 'remote cities in Russia'.

Ukrainian lawmaker Inna Sovsun told Times Radio that according to the mayor and city council in Mariupol, those citizens are going to so-called filtration camps and 'then they're being relocated to very distant parts of Russia, where they're being forced to sign papers that they will stay in that area for two or three years and they will work for free in those areas.'

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.

The Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine on Sunday said that 2,973 people have been evacuated from Mariupol since March 5, including 541 over the last 24 hours.

This comes as today Boris Johnson asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky what his military requires in Ukraine's battle against Russia's invasion as both leaders 'agreed to step up their direct communication', No 10 has said.

The Prime Minister 'set out his intention to advance Ukraine's interests at this week's Nato and G7 meetings and in upcoming bilateral engagement with key allies,' according to a Downing Street spokeswoman.

Mr Johnson 'asked for the president's latest assessment of Ukraine's military requirements in the face of Russian aggression' and 'outlined the UK's ongoing commitment to work alongside international partners to co-ordinate support to strengthen Ukraine's self-defence'.

Refugees walk along a road as they leave the city during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port of Mariupol, Ukraine

Service members of pro-Russian troops are seen atop of tanks during Ukraine-Russia conflict on the outskirts of the besieged southern port city of Mariupol today

Local residents carry bottles with water as Russia's invasion continues to take a toll on Ukraine in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol

Service members of pro-Russian troops are seen atop of tanks during Ukraine-Russia conflict on the outskirts of the besieged southern port city of Mariupol

Devastation and debris pictured in Mariupol today as Russia called on Ukrainian forces in the port city to lay down their arms, saying a 'terrible humanitarian catastrophe' was unfolding

She added: 'The leaders also discussed the ongoing negotiations and the Prime Minister reaffirmed his staunch support for Ukraine's position.

'Both leaders stressed the continued importance of sanctions in exerting pressure on (Russian President Vladimir Putin), and they condemned the abhorrent attacks on innocent civilians, following the appalling bombings in Mariupol.

'The Prime Minister expressed his admiration for the bravery of Ukraine and was clear that the UK was committed to stepping up military, economic and diplomatic support in order to help bring an end to this terrible conflict.'

Boris Johnson is also considering a lightning trip to Kyiv to show support for Ukraine's battle against Vladimir Putin.

The Prime Minister has asked officials to examine the practicality and value of the trip to the Ukrainian capital for talks with president Volodymyr Zelensky. Security officials are said to be 'having kittens' at the prospect of the PM travelling to a war zone.

But the situation tonight in Kyiv showed how difficult it would be to ensure the Prime Minister's safety if he does visit.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko shared pictures of what appears to be an explosion in the distance in the city's Podil district.

In a tweet the mayor reported claims of several explosions, 'in particular, according to information at the moment, some houses and in one of the shopping centres'

Mayor Vitali Klitschko shared pictures of what appears to be an explosion in the distance in the city's Podil district. Klitschko added that 'rescuers, medics and police are already in place' and reported 'at this time - one victim'. It is unclear if he referred to a fatality or injury

Olga, a 27-year-old Ukrainian woman seriously wounded while sheltering her baby from shrapnel blasts amid Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, holds her baby Victoria in Kyiv, Ukraine

This satellite image illustrates what the Mariupol theatre looked like before it was reduced to rubble by Russian shelling

New satellite images show the collapsed remains of Mariupol theatre which was sheltering hundreds of children and their families before being levelled in a Russian airstrike

Local authorities said today that the school building was destroyed and people could remain under the rubble, but there was no immediate word on casualties.

The Russian governor of Sevastopol, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, said on Sunday that Post Captain Andrei Paliy, deputy commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, had been killed during fighting in Mariupol.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said 7,295 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities through humanitarian corridors on Sunday, 3,985 of them from Mariupol. She said the government planned to send nearly 50 buses to Mariupol on Monday for further evacuations.

In this satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC, multiple civilian buildings burn amid Russian strikes on the Livoberezhnyi District of Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 20

A man walks along a road past a tank of pro-Russian troops in Mariupol, Ukraine, as Russia's invasion which began last month continues

Members of the Ukrainian Territorial Defence Force stand guard at a checkpoint in Kyiv, Ukraine today. The war in Ukraine has sparked the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II

The last EU diplomat to evacuate the besieged Ukrainian port said: 'What I saw, I hope no one will ever see.'

Greece's consul general in Mariupol, Manolis Androulakis, left the city on Tuesday.

After a four-day trip through Ukraine he crossed to Romania through Moldavia, along with 10 other Greek nationals.

As he arrived in Athens today, Mr Androulakis said: 'Mariupol will become part of a list of cities that were completely destroyed by war; I don't need to name them- they are Guernica, Coventry, Aleppo, Grozny, Leningrad.'

According to the Greek Foreign Ministry, Androulakis was the last EU diplomat to leave Mariupol.

The Ukrainian flag has been projected onto the Russian Embassy in London as protesters outside called for an end to the war and violence

A woman walks out of a heavily damaged building after bombing in Satoya neighborhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, today, amid damaged buildings and debris

An injured local resident smokes at an area where a residential building was hit by the debris from a downed rocket, in Kyiv today as Russian forces try to encircle the Ukrainian capital

A resident stands with her dog next to a destroyed building, amid debris, after a bombing in Satoya neighborhood in Kyiv, Ukraine today

Three people were injured in a Russian air strike on Ukraine's western Zhytomyr region earlier today, emergency services have said

Thirteen buildings were damaged in the attack, which targeted the Korostensky district, north of the region's main city Zhytomyr, Ukraine's state emergency services said on Facebook

Ukraine's state emergency services said on Facebook that 'three people were injured', posting images of burning buildings and scattered charred debris

Also on Sunday, Russia's defence ministry said its 'high-precision missiles' hit a training centre of Ukrainian special forces in Zhytomyr region, around 150 kilometres (90 miles) west of Ukraine's capital Kyiv

Photos of damaged buildings have today been captured after three were injured in air strike on western Ukraine, emergency services said

Three have today been injured in air strike on western Ukraine, emergency services said, as thirteen buildings were damaged in the attack, which targeted the Korostensky district north of the region's main city Zhytomyr.

'Three people were injured,' a Facebook post from Ukraine's emergency services added, posting images of burning buildings and scattered charred debris.

'More than 100 (Ukrainian) servicemen of the special forces and foreign mercenaries were destroyed,' in the attack, the ministry said.

Terrifying footage has emerged apparently showing Russia firing deadly thermobaric TOS-1A rockets, which can allegedly melt human organs.

Moscow defence sources claimed: 'The TOS-1A Solntsepek was used against Ukrainian nationalists by the people's militia of the Donetsk People's Republic with the support of the Russian army during a special operation in Ukraine.'

Earlier Zelensky also said Russia's siege of the port city was 'a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come'.

His comments came after local authorities said Russian troops had forcefully deported several thousand people from the besieged city last week, after Russia had spoken of 'refugees' arriving from the strategic port.

'Over the past week, several thousand Mariupol residents were deported onto the Russian territory,' the city council said in a statement on its Telegram channel late on Saturday.

'The occupiers illegally took people from the Livoberezhniy district and from the shelter in the sports club building, where more than a thousand people (mostly women and children) were hiding from the constant bombing.'

Zelensky said the siege of Mariupol would 'go down in history of responsibility for war crimes'.

'To do this to a peaceful city... is a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come.'

Meanwhile, authorities in Ukraine's eastern city of Kharkiv say at least five civilians, including a nine-year-old boy, have been killed in the latest Russian shelling.

This comes as Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba has on Twitter posted about protests in Energodar, a city in the country's north-west oblast, following claims that Russian forces have abducted its deputy mayor.

Mr Kuleba's tweet said: 'Brave Ukrainians in Energodar hold a peaceful protest demanding to release deputy mayor Ivan Samoidyuk who was abducted by Russian invaders. Russians thought they could impose their authoritarian rules in democratic Ukraine. Instead, they need to go home.'

Earlier this month President Zelensky demanded the release of Melitopol's mayor after his alleged kidnap by Russian troops, which sparked local protests.

The Ukrainian leader said the capture was an 'attempt to bring the city to its knees' and demanded the immediate release of Ivan Fedorov, the mayor of the besieged city.

Mr Fedorov is understood to have been released according to Ukrainian authorities, Sky News reports.

Zelensky today also urged Israel to 'make its choice' and abandon its effort to maintain neutrality towards the invasion.

The Ukrainian leader, who is Jewish, made the appeal during an address to Israeli lawmakers, the latest in a series of speeches by videoconference to foreign legislatures.

In remarks that at several points compared Russian aggression to the Holocaust, Zelensky said that 'Ukraine made the choice to save Jews 80 years ago.'

'Now it's time for Israel to make its choice.'

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has walked a careful diplomatic line since Russia launched its invasion on February 24.

Stressing Israel's strong ties to Moscow and Kyiv, Bennett has sought to preserve delicate security cooperation with Russia, which has troops in Syria, across Israel's northern border.

He has held regular phone calls with Zelensky and Vladimir Putin, including a three-hour meeting with the Russian President at the Kremlin on March 5.

While Ukrainian officials have voiced appreciation for Bennett's mediation efforts, Zelensky today implied that this too had proven to be a misstep.

'We can mediate between states but not between good and evil,' the Ukrainian leader said.

Civilians trapped in Mariupol city under Russian attacks, are evacuated in groups under the control of pro-Russian separatists, through other cities, in Mariupol, Ukraine on March 20

Pro-Russian separatists seemed to be carrying out strip-searches on some of the fleeing Ukrainian civilians in Mariupol on Sunday

This man (left) was asked to remove both his trousers and his top, even though it seemed to be snowing

Pro-Putin soldiers were wrapped up against the cold as they allowed civilians to leave Mariupol on Sunday, March 20

Pro-Russian separatists gave directions to civilians trying to escape the heavily bombarded city of Mariupol

Groups of Ukrainians fleeing the war left the city in the southeast of the country, where there has been intense fighting

Previous humanitarian corridors in the war-torn country had failed after Russia allegedly bombed civilians who were trying to leave

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said that the West needs to have a 'degree of scepticism' about the prospect of a peace deal between Russia and Ukrainevas Kyiv looked to stand firm against giving up territory in a settlement.

Speaking today, the Chancellor said it is 'encouraging' that discussions are under way but the West has to be on its guard.

Mr Sunak told Sky News' Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme: 'You have to have some degree of scepticism about it given the track record of these things.

'I think the most important thing is that any talk of a settlement must be on Ukraine's terms.

'And the best thing we can do is just maintain the significant pressure that we are bringing to bear on Putin, but also providing support to the Ukrainians in the meantime - that's the best we can do and the Ukrainians will take the lead.'

An official in Mr Zelensky's office told the Associated Press that the main subject discussed between the two sides last week was whether Russian troops would remain in separatist regions in eastern Ukraine after the war and where the borders would lie.

But a Ukraine politician said while her country is open to further meetings with Russia, it is not prepared to give up land to the aggressor.

Olha Stefanishyna, deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, told Sky News that re-drawing Ukraine's borders is 'absolutely not' being considered.

'Ukrainian territory is a territory which has been fixed (since) 1991,' she said.

'That is not an option for discussion.'

According to reports, Kyiv has insisted on the inclusion of one or more Western nuclear powers in the negotiations with the Kremlin and on legally binding security guarantees for Ukraine.

Asked whether the UK would act as a security guarantor to the Ukrainians as part of any peace deal, Mr Sunak - who confirmed his family will not be taking in a Ukrainian refugee - said it is 'probably a bit too early to get into the details' of what an agreement might look like.

Elsewhere, Boris Johnson has urged China to get off the fence and join in global condemnation of Russia's invasion.

The Prime Minister, in comments made to the Sunday Times, said he believes some in Xi Jinping's administration are having 'second thoughts' about the neutral stance adopted by Beijing following Russia's actions against its neighbour.

But today China's ambassador to the US defended his country's refusal to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking with CBS's 'Face the Nation' Qin Gang said condemnation 'doesn't solve the problem'.

He said: 'I would be surprised if Russia will back down by condemnation.'

Mr Gang added: '(China) will continue to promote peace talks and urge immediate fire.

'And, you know, condemnation, you know, only, doesn't help. We need wisdom. We need courage and we need good diplomacy.'

Zelensky also said peace talks with Russia were needed although they were 'not easy and pleasant'. He said he discussed the course of the talks with French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday.

'Ukraine has always sought a peaceful solution. Moreover, we are interested in peace now,' he said.

Vladimir Putin has reportedly 'finally agreed' to meet in person with Zelensky for peace talks.

So far the negotiations have been between middle men on neutral ground but the war has continued into its fourth week.

The Russian tyrant will allegedly meet President Zelensky 'at some point', the Express reported.

The two leaders have let their diplomatic teams conduct peace talks on the neutral ground since shortly after the start of the conflict on February 24, but a BBC correspondent has confirmed the two will meet in person.

Putin has come to terms with fact he will have to lead the negotiations at some time in the future, the BBC's Lysa Doucet said.

She said: 'The diplomats are talking, the negotiators are talking. We understand President Putin has finally agreed that he will meet, at some point, President Zelensky who has been asking for a meeting since January.

'He hasn't said it in public, he says quite the opposite in public.'

She added: 'The Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is very busy, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is very busy.

The Ukrainian cannon seemed to aim at the Russian tank's tracks in a bid to put the vehicles out of order

It seemed to shoot around a metre above the heads of soldiers on the ground, who had their rifles aimed at the tanks

The tanks had been painted with a white 'Z', which has quickly become a symbol for Russia in its war with Ukraine

'They've said privately their understanding is that President Putin will meet President Zelensky when the time is right. But the time is not right now.'

Meanwhile, Russia's military isn't even recovering the bodies of its soldiers in some places, Zelensky said.

'In places where there were especially fierce battles, the bodies of Russian soldiers simply pile up along our line of defence. And no one is collecting these bodies,' he said.

He described a battle near Chornobayivka in the south, where Ukrainian forces held their positions and six times beat back the Russians, who just kept 'sending their people to slaughter'.

Russian news agencies, citing the country's defence ministry, have said buses carrying several hundred people - which Moscow calls refugees - have been arriving in Russia from Mariupol in recent days.

An evacuation of civilians from secure corridors pictured in Mariupol, Ukraine on March 18

Service members of pro-Russian troops drive an armoured vehicle in Mariupol, Ukraine on March 19

A discarded pram pictured as an evacuation of civilians from secure corridors took place in Mariupol, Ukraine on March 18

Earlier on Sunday Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia's siege of the port city of Mariupol was 'a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come'

Service members of pro-Russian troops in uniforms without insignia drive an armoured vehicle during Russia's invasion of Mariupol

The Russian TASS news agency reported on Saturday that 13 busses were moving to Russia, carrying more than 350 people, about 50 of whom were to be sent by rail to the Yaroslavl region and the rest to temporary transition centres in Taganrog, a port city in Russia's Rostov region.

Russia's Defence Ministry said this month that Russia had prepared 200 busses to 'evacuate' citizens of Mariupol.

RIA Novosti agency, citing emergency services, reported last week that nearly 300,000 people, including some 60,000 children, have arrived in Russia from the Luhansk and Donbas regions, including from Mariupol, in recent weeks.

Russia's Defence Ministry said this month that more than 2.6 million people in Ukraine have asked to be evacuated.

The city council in the Azov Sea port city said Sunday that 39,426 residents, almost ten per cent of the 430,000 who live there, have safely evacuated from Mariupol in their own vehicles. It said the evacuees used more than 8,000 vehicles to leave via a humanitarian corridor via Berdyansk to Zaporizhzhia.

Air raid sirens sounded across major Ukrainian cities early on Sunday but there were no immediate reports of fresh attacks.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been trapped in Mariupol for more than two weeks, sheltering from heavy bombardment that has severed central supplies of electricity, heating, food and water supplies, and killed at least 2,300 people, some of whom had to be buried in mass graves, according to local authorities.

Ukrainian firefighters and security teams at the scene of a building hit by Russian missiles in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 20

Although the fires were put out, cars were left burnt out, with a residential blocks of flats damaged by the air strike

A woman holding a pug walks away from the the scene of a building hit by Russian missiles in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 20

The governor of the northeastern Sumy region, Dmytro Zhyvytskyy, said Sunday that 71 infants have been safely evacuated via a humanitarian corridor.

Zhyvytskyy said on Facebook that the orphans will be taken to an unspecified foreign country. He said most of them require constant medical attention. Like many other Ukrainian cities, Sumy has been besieged by Russian troops and faced repeated shelling.

Meanwhile, the Russian military says it has carried out a new series of strikes on Ukrainian military facilities with long-range hypersonic and cruise missiles.

A man helps Ukrainian soldiers searching for bodies in the debris at a military school hit by Russian rockets, in Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine

Saved: A Ukrainian recruit was rescued after 30 hours from debris of the military school hit by Russian rockets, in Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine, on March 19

A Russian attack on a barracks for young Ukrainian recruits in the middle of the night that killed at least 50 young Ukrainian recruits was branded as 'cowardly'.

Russian rockets struck the military school in Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine, on Friday, killing dozens of young Ukrainian ensigns at their brigade headquarters.

Ukrainian soldier Maxim, 22, who was at the barracks, said 'no fewer than 200 soldiers were sleeping in the barracks' at the time of the strike.

'At least 50 bodies have been recovered, but we do not know how many others are in the rubble,' he said.

Vitaly Kim, the governor of Mykolaiv, said Russia 'hit our sleeping soldiers with a rocket in a cowardly manner.'

Meanwhile Olga Malarchuk, a military official, said: 'We aren't allowed to say anything because the rescue operation isn't over and the families haven't all been informed.

'We are not yet able to announce a toll and I cannot tell you how many soldiers were present'.

Russia also said it had fired a second 'unstoppable' hypersonic Kinzhal missile at a fuel depot in Kostyantynivka, in the southern region of Mykolaiv.

A MiG-31K jet fired the aeroballistic missile at the warehouse as it was flying over Crimea.

Major General Igor Konashenkov, from the Russian Defence Ministry, said the target was the main supply of fuel for Ukrainian armoured cars in the south of the country.

He claimed the missile had destroyed the depot. It is the second time Russia says it has used the missile in Ukraine, after a weapons storage site was destroyed in Deliatyn, in the Carpathian Mountains in western Ukraine, on Friday.

NATO deem the weapon so powerful it has been nicknamed The Sizzler.

At least 200 soldiers were sleeping at the time of the attack, which was branded 'cowardly' by the governor of Mykolaiv

Russian forces carried out a large-scale air strike on Mykolaiv, killing at least 50 Ukrainian soldiers at their brigade headquarters

Ukrainian soldiers search for bodies in the debris at the military school hit by Russian rockets the day before, in Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine, on March 19

Russia has never before admitted using the high-precision weapon in combat.

Moscow claims the 'Kinzhal'- or Dagger - is 'unstoppable' by current Western weapons. The missile, which has a range of 2,000 kilometer (1,250 miles), is nuclear capable.

However, both hypersonic strikes so far have not been nuclear.

'The Kinzhal aviation missile system with hypersonic aeroballistic missiles destroyed a large underground warehouse containing missiles and aviation ammunition in the village of Deliatyn in the Ivano-Frankivsk region', the Russian defence ministry said Saturday.

Russian Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov also said that the Russian forces used the anti-ship missile system Bastion to strike Ukrainian military facilities near the Black Sea port of Odessa.

Aerial footage released by the Russian military claimed to show the missile strike. Large, long buildings are shown in the footage in a snowy region, before one is obliterated by a huge explosion - sending flames, earth and debris high into the air. People can be seen on the ground fleeing as smoke pours from the site.

Ukrainian air force spokesman Yuri Ignat confirmed that a storage site had been targeted, but added that Kyiv had no information regarding the type of missile that was used.

Hypersonic missiles differ from ballistic ones in that they travel closer to the earth and as such can largely avoid radar detection

'The enemy targeted our depots' but 'we have no information of the type of missile,' he said. 'There has been damage, destruction and the detonation of munitions. They are using all the missiles in their arsenal against us.'

Russia reportedly first used the weapon during its military campaign in Syria in 2016 to support the Assad regime, although it was unclear if this was the same model. Some of the most intense bombing came in 2016 during the battle for Aleppo, resulting in hundreds of civilian deaths.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has termed the missile 'an ideal weapon' that flies at 10 times the speed of sound, which is 7672.69 miles per hour, and can overcome air-defence systems.

Russia also said it had fired a second 'unstoppable' hypersonic Kinzhal missile at a fuel depot in Kostyantynivka, in the southern region of Mykolaiv. The MiG-31K jet (pictured as it took off) fired the aeroballistic missile at the warehouse as it was flying over Crimea

Major General Igor Konashenkov, from the Russian Defence Ministry, said the target was the main supply of fuel for Ukrainian armoured cars in the south of the country. He claimed the missile had destroyed the depot. Pictured: The Russian pilot flying the fighter jet

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