© Reuters/ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO Service members of pro-Russian troops are seen in the besieged city of MariupolBy Pavel Polityuk and Natalia ZinetsLVIV, Ukraine (Reuters) -Ukraine described the situation in Mariupol on Monday as "very difficult" and said it had been unable to establish a new safe corridor to evacuate civilians from the besieged city after it defied a Russian ultimatum to surrender. She said agreement had been reached with Russia on creating eight humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians from besieged towns and cities on Monday but Mariupol was not among them. Ukraine has accused Russian forces of bombarding buildings including hospitals and a theatre where it said people were sheltering last week. Russia's Defence Ministry has blamed "Ukrainian nationalists" for the situation in Mariupol. A Russian-backed separatist leader in eastern Ukraine said it would take more than a week to take control of Mariupol.

Source: CBC News March 21, 2022 12:05 UTC