A deadline set by Russia for Ukrainian fighters holding out in the besieged port city of Mariupol to surrender has passed. In a statement issued early on Wednesday morning, the Russian defence ministry said it would “once again” offer Ukrainian troops the option “to stop fighting and lay down their weapons” by 2pm Moscow time (1100 GMT) on Wednesday.
A Ukrainian commander from the 36th separate marine brigade in Mariupol made an urgent plea in a video shared on his Facebook page, saying his forces were probably facing their “last days, if not hours”. Serhiy Volyna said his troops were outnumbered 10 to one and appealed to world leaders to help 500 wounded soldiers and hundreds of civilians trapped in the city.
A small convoy of buses carrying dozens of civilians has reportedly departed from a planned evacuation point in Mariupol for Ukraine-controlled territory. Mariupol city authorities earlier said they were hoping to evacuate about 6,000 people under a preliminary agreement with Russia – the first in weeks – on establishing a safe corridor.
A small but growing number of senior Kremlin insiders are reportedly questioning Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine, according to Bloomberg. Some senior Kremlin insiders believe Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a “catastrophic mistake that will set the country back for years”, the channel cited multiple sources as saying.
More than 5 million people have fled Ukraine since Russian troops invaded the country on 24 February, according to figures from the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR). Women and children account for 90% of those who have fled. A further 7.1 million people are displaced inside Ukraine.
Half a million Ukrainian citizens have been deported to Russia since the start of the war, according to Mykyta Poturayev, the head of the Ukrainian parliament’s humanitarian committee. Addressing the European parliament, Poturayev called on the Red Cross to establish contact with those missing. Reuters could not independently verify the figure given by Poturayev.
Finland’s parliament has opened a debate on whether to seek Nato membership. Finland’s prime minister, Sanna Marin, has said her country will decide “quite fast, within weeks,” whether to apply for membership, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led to a surge in political and public support for joining the military alliance.
Western nations prepared to stage coordinated diplomatic snubs in protest against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Washington. The US treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, planned to avoid G20 sessions attended by Russian officials on Wednesday. The UK finance minister, Rishi Sunak, would not attend certain G20 sessions, a British government source said.
