Russia says it has set deadline for Ukrainian forces to lay down arms in Mariupol

Russia has said that it has set a deadline for Monday morning for Ukrainian forces to lay down their arms in the besieged port city of Mariupol.

"Lay down your arms," Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, the director of the Russian National Center for Defense Management, said in a briefing given out by the defence ministry.

"All who lay down their arms are guaranteed safe passage out of Mariupol," he said.

Mizintsev said humanitarian corridors for civilians to flee the encircled southern city would be opened eastwards and westwards out of Mariupol at 10am Moscow time on Monday.

Ukraine has until 5am Moscow time to respond to the offer on safe passages and surrendering weapons, the colonel-general said.

Russia has not said what they will do if the Ukrainians do not surrender.

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Although some civilians have been evacuated, previous attempts at humanitarian convoys out of the besieged city have been repeatedly blocked.

Mariupol has been the site of some of the war’s greatest suffering, with workers from the International Committee of the Red Cross describing scenes there as apocalyptic.

Mass graves have been dug for the dead.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that what Russian forces did to the encircled city of 430,000 “is a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come.”

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In a statement, the Mariupol city council said Russian soldiers have forced several thousand residents- mostly women and children- to leave and be relocated to Russia.

It did not say where in Russia and the claim could not be independently confirmed.

Food is running out in Mariupol, and the Russians have reported to have being stopping humanitarian attempts to bring it in.

Electricity is also mostly gone and water is sparse, with residents melting snow to drink.