INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Ukraine rejected a Russian ultimatum to surrender the besieged southern city of Mariupol on Monday, as renewed overnight shelling killed at
least eight people at a shopping mall in the capital Kyiv.Almost 350,000 people are trapped without water and electricity in the port city
of Mariupol, which has been bombarded by Russian troops for almost a month in what has been described as a "massive war crime" by EU policy
chief Josep Borrell.Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russian bombs struck targets overnight, allegedly damaging a chemical plant in the north of the
country causing an "ammonia leakage" that sparked a temporary alarm.Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Europe to significantly
dial up pressure on Moscow to halt its nearly month-long invasion, saying the continent must cease all trade with Russia."No euros for the
Close all of your ports to them
Don't export them your goods
Push for Russia to leave Ukraine," Zelensky said in his latest video address.Ukrainian leaders also stressed they were standing firm against
invaders in Mariupol, which is suffering a critical humanitarian crisis.Defenders of the port city have "played a huge role in destroying
Everyone must understand this."The Kremlin's military command had warned authorities in Mariupol had until "5am..
on March 21" to respond to eight pages of demands, which Ukrainian officials said would amount to a capitulation.Rejecting the ultimatum by
Russia to surrender Mariupol, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Moscow should instead allow the trapped residents to
escape."We can't talk about surrendering weapons," Vereshchuk told the Ukrainska Pravda online newspaper.Mariupol is a pivotal target in
Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine -- providing a land bridge between Russian forces in Crimea to the southwest and Russian-controlled
territory to the north and east.A Greek diplomat who remained in the city through the bombardment said the devastation would rank alongside
history's most ruinous wartime assaults."Mariupol will be included in a list of cities in the world that were completely destroyed by the
war, such as Guernica, Stalingrad, Grozny, Aleppo," Manolis Androulakis, believed to be the last EU diplomat to leave the city, as he
arrived back in Athens late Sunday.Oil embargo warningRussia marched on its neighbor on Feb
24, pressing on despite sweeping unprecedented sanctions imposed by Western allies.Its bombs hit several targets across the country
Ukrainians were told to temporarily take shelter after an ammonia leak at a nearby chemical factory, amid intense fighting with Russian
forces in the area.Sumy regional governor Dmytro Zhyvytsky said "Russian artillery shelling" had hit the Sumykhimprom fertilizer plant as he
warned residents within a 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) radius to seek shelter before an all-clear was sounded mid-morning.Away from the
frontlines, foreign ministers of the European Union gathered in Brussels to mull fresh sanctions against Russia.Some members within the bloc
are pushing for an embargo on Russian oil and gas, but Germany has rejected the call outright, warning it could spark social instability.The
very serious impact on the world energy market, it will have a very serious negative impact on Europe's energy balance," said Kremlin
leader will also join in a NATO summit and G7 talks in Brussels, before travelling to Poland on Friday.There he is expected to hold talks
with President Andrzej Duda to discuss a joint response to the humanitarian crisis that has seen more than 2 million Ukrainians flee to
Poland alone.Humanitarian conditions continued to deteriorate in the mostly Russian-speaking south and east, where Russian forces have been
pressing their advance, as well as in the north around Kyiv.Aid agencies are struggling to reach people trapped in besieged cities.Around 10
million Ukrainians have fled their homes, roughly one-third going abroad, the UN refugee agency said.'Act of terror'The humanitarian crisis
hundreds, calling it an act of "terror that will be remembered even in the next century.""Russian forces have come to exterminate us, to
kill us," he said.It was the latest potentially devastating strike on a shelter for civilians
Last Wednesday, a theatre where authorities said more than 1,000 people had sheltered was hit, with hundreds still presumed missing in the
rubble.Mariupol officials have said occupying forces have forcibly transported around a thousand residents to Russia and stripped them of
their Ukrainian passports -- a possible war crime.A group of children stuck in a Mariupol clinic for weeks are among those who have been
taken to Russian-controlled territory, a carer and a relative of a clinic worker told AFP.The 19 children, aged between four and 17 and
mostly orphans, had been living in freezing cellars hiding from shelling in harrowing conditions.'Perhaps in Jerusalem'Amid the carnage,
Zelensky has again suggested he and Putin hold direct talks.After addressing Israeli lawmakers Zelensky -- who is accused by Russia of being
a Nazi, but is Jewish -- thanked Prime Minister Naftali Bennett for efforts to broker talks, which he suggested could take place in
Jerusalem."Sooner or later we could start the conversation with Russia
This is the right place for finding peace
If this is possible," Zelensky said.Authorities in Turkey, where Russian and Ukrainian representatives have been negotiating, said the two
sides were close to a deal to stop the fighting.But the Ukrainian leader appeared to draw some red lines."You cannot just demand from
Ukraine to recognize some territories as independent republics," he told CNN
"We have to come up with a model where Ukraine will not lose its sovereignty."
