Ukraine: The Battle for Mariupol and Other Keys to the War

The struggle for the strategic port of Mariupol intensified on Monday as Ukraine rejected a Russian offer to evict its troops from the besieged city.

Russian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that some 400 civilians were taking refuge in an arts school in Mariupol, a city on the Azov Sea, when it was hit by a Russian bomb.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which is in its 26th day, does not seem to calm down. The invasion has caused devastation and destruction, and wreaked heavy havoc on civilians. The UN says that more than 3.38 million people have fled Ukraine.

Here are some key aspects of the conflict:

WHAT ARE THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN MARIUPOL?

The strategic port city has suffered some of the worst horrors of war since the Russian invasion. Russian and Ukrainian soldiers fight street by street to take control of the city where at least 2,300 people have died and some have been buried in mass graves.

The Ukrainian authorities rejected a Russian offer to allow their troops to leave the city safely. If Russia captures Mariupol, it will be able to join the forces it has in the south and east of Ukraine.

“You can't talk about any surrender, lay down your arms,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk told Ukrainian Pravda news outlet.

It is unknown how many people were killed by the Russian bombing of the art school, Zelenskyy said in a video conference Monday morning. “They are under the rubble, and we don't know how many of them have survived,” he said.

The attack on the art school was the second reported by authorities in less than a week against a public building in Mariupol used as a shelter. A bomb hit a theater on Wednesday where it was believed that there were more than 1,000 refugees. It is not clear how many people died in that attack.

WHAT HAPPENS ELSEWHERE IN UKRAINE?

Sunday's Russian attack near downtown Kiev, the capital, killed eight people, according to security officials. The cannonade devastated a shopping mall and damaged a skyscraper. Russian troops are now trying to surround the Ukrainian capital, which had almost 3 million inhabitants before the war.

A Russian shell hit a chemical plant outside the city of Sumy shortly after 3 a.m. on Monday, according to the Ukrainian prosecutor's office, causing a leak in a 50-ton ammonia tank that took hours to contain.

For his part, Russian military spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that the escape was “a planned provocation” by Ukrainian forces to falsely accuse Russia of a chemical attack.

Konashenkov also said that a cruise missile had hit a Ukrainian training center in the Rivne region during the night. 80 Ukrainian and foreign fighters were killed there, he added. A Ukrainian official confirmed the attack without revealing the death toll.

WHAT HAS THE AP WITNESSED DIRECTLY OR CONFIRMED?

Journalists from The Associated Press at the site of the Russian attack in Kiev saw the remains of the mall, which were still on fire on Monday morning. The force of the explosion shattered all the windows of the skyscraper along and twisted its steel frames.

In the distance, artillery could be heard as firefighters made their way through the destruction in the densely populated Podil district.

AP cameraman Mstyslav Chernov recounted his ordeal as the only international journalist, along with AP photographer Evgeniy Maloletka, in Mariupol before fleeing this week.

“We were the last journalists in Mariupol. There are currently none,” he said in his narration.

ARE RUSSIAN FORCES MAKING PROGRESS?

Experts say that overwhelmed Russian troops are launching long-distance attacks on cities and military bases while Ukrainian forces carry out rapid attacks and try to cut off Russian supply routes.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told CBS that Ukrainian resistance means that “(Putin's) forces on the ground are basically stagnant.”

Military analysts from the West say that even if Mariupol falls, Russian troops could be too worn out to help secure Russian advances on other fronts.

AND WHAT ABOUT DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS?

Russian and Ukrainian officials have held several talks, but no solution has emerged.

In a Sunday Zoom speech to Israeli lawmakers, Zelenskyy thanked Israel for its attempts to negotiate talks with Russia. He praised Prime Minister Naftali Bennett for trying to “find a path of negotiation with Russia... so that sooner or later we start talking with Russia, possibly in Jerusalem.”

Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden is heading to Europe this week to attend a summit with NATO leaders where they will look for ways to strengthen the bloc's own deterrence and defense.

HOW MANY CIVILIANS HAVE DIED IN UKRAINE?

It is difficult to confirm a total number of deaths. Since the war began until Saturday, the UN human rights office has recorded 902 civilians killed and 1,459 injured. Ukrainian officials say that thousands of civilians have died.