Ukraine on Monday (21/3) rejected Russia's calls to hand over the port city of Mariupol, where residents are besieged with little food, water and electricity.
"There are no questions about surrender, laying down of arms," the Ukrainska Pravda news portal quoted Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk as saying on Monday morning.
"We have informed the Russian side about this," Vereshchuk said, as reported by Reuters.
Russia had previously asked Ukrainian troops in Mariupol to lay down their arms, saying a "terrible humanitarian catastrophe" was unfolding.
However, Russia guarantees the safe passage of residents out of the city and humanitarian corridors that they will open from 10 am Moscow time on Monday.
Mariupol has endured some of the heaviest bombings since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. Many of its 400,000 residents remain stuck with little food, water and electricity.
Fighting continued inside the city on Sunday, Mariupol Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said, without elaborating.
Vereshchuk said more than 7,000 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities via humanitarian corridors on Sunday, more than half from Mariupol.
The Ukrainian government will send nearly 50 buses to Mariupol on Monday for further evacuations.
Russia and Ukraine have struck a humanitarian corridor agreement to evacuate civilians, but accuse each other of frequent violations against it.
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