Surrender Deadlines Passes And Ukraine Vows Mariupol Troops Will ‘Fight To The End

Russian troops have intensified their campaign to take the port city, part of an anticipated massive onslaught across eastern Ukraine

- Holly Bancroft

Ukrainian forces in the besieged southern port of Mariupol continue to fight and will defy a Russian demand to surrender, the country's prime minister has said.

“We will absolutely fight to the end, to the win, in this war," Ukraine's prime minister Denys Shmyhal told ABC News yesterday. He added: “The city still has not fallen.”

The shattered city, the main port of the Donbas region, is on the brink of falling to the Russians after seven weeks under seige.

Its capture would give the Russian army a crucial swathe of territory connecting eastern separatist regions with Crimea and boost Vladimir Putin's invading forces after the sinking of his navy's Black Sea fleet flagship.

After failing to overcome Ukrainian resistance in the north, the Russian military has refocused its ground offensive on Donbas while aiming long-distance strikes elsewhere, including the capital, Kyiv.

Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia on Saturday of "deliberately trying to destroy everyone" in Mariupol and said his government was in touch with the defenders, whose deaths he warned would put an end to any peace talks.