LVIV, Ukraine — As the besieged city of Mariupol rejected a demand to surrender, Russian forces mounted attacks across Ukraine overnight and into Monday, including a missile strike that officials said hit a Kyiv shopping center and killed at least eight people.
With fears growing that Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine is turning into a bloody war of attrition, Mariupol leaders rebuffed the Russian proposal — which offered evacuation routes for Ukrainian troops if they left by Monday morning — even after the reported bombing of a local art school where officials said hundreds of people had taken shelter.
Mariupol’s mayor swiftly ruled out giving in to the enemy troops that have surrounded his city, which has become a symbol of Ukrainian suffering and destruction. Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk also dismissed the Russian demand.