Ukraine has defied an ultimatum by the Russian military for its forces to surrender the city of Mariupol, writes The Guardian.

Despite Mariupol being besieged by Russian forces for almost four weeks, the Ukrainian government in Kyiv gave short shrift to Moscow’s demand for the city’s defenders to “lay down arms” by 5am Moscow time (2amGMT) on Monday.

Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said that there could be no question of surrender.

“There can be no talk of any surrenders, laying down of arms. We have already informed the Russian side about this,” she said, according to online news site Ukrainska Pravda. “Instead of wasting time on eight pages of letters, just open a [humanitarian] corridor.”

In a briefing on Sunday night, Col-Gen Mikhail Mizintsev, the director of the Russian national defence management centre, said: “A terrible humanitarian catastrophe has developed. All who lay down their arms are guaranteed safe passage out of Mariupol. Humanitarian corridors for civilians would be opened eastwards and westwards out of Mariupol at 10am Moscow time (7am GMT) on Monday”.