Ukraine on Monday rejected Russian calls to surrender the port city of Mariupol, where residents are besieged with little food, water and power in a humanitarian crisis.

Iran PressEurope: "There can be no question of any surrender, laying down of arms," the Ukrainska Pravda news portal cited Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk as saying early on Monday.

According to Reuters, "We have already informed the Russian side about this."

Russia earlier called on Ukrainian forces in Mariupol to lay down their arms, saying a "terrible humanitarian catastrophe" was unfolding.

It said defenders who did so were guaranteed safe passage out of the city and humanitarian corridors would be opened from 10 AM Moscow time on Monday.

Mariupol has suffered some of the heaviest bombardments since Russia started its military operation in Ukraine on Feb 24. Many of its 400,000 residents remain trapped with little if any food, water and power.

Fighting continued inside the city on Sunday, regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said, without elaborating.

Vereshchuk said over 7,000 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities through humanitarian corridors on Sunday, more than half from Mariupol. She said the government planned to send nearly 50 buses there on Monday for further evacuations.

Russia and Ukraine have made agreements throughout the war on humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians, but have accused each other of frequent violations of those.

Greece's consul general in Mariupol, the last EU diplomat to evacuate the city, said it was joining the ranks of places known for having been destroyed in wars.

"What I saw, I hope no one will ever see," he said.

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