Ukraine Rejects Russia's Request for Surrender in Mariupol

Ukrainian officials defiantly rejected a Russian demand that their forces in Mariupol lay down arms and raise white flags Monday in exchange for safe passage out of the besieged strategic port city.

Even as Russia intensified its attempt to pummel Mariupol into surrender, its offensive in other parts of Ukraine has floundered. Western governments and analysts say the broader conflict is grinding into a war of attrition, with Russia continuing to bombard cities.

In the capital, Kyiv, a shopping center in the densely populated Podil district near the city center was...

The fate of Ukrainian port city Mariupol remained uncertain Monday, after it rejected Moscow’s ultimatum to surrender after weeks of Russian bombardments and days of street-by-street guerrilla warfare. Russia is bent on seizing Mariupol — which would be its first strategic victory in a war that appears to be approaching a stalemate in many other parts of the country — and has threatened the city with more assaults and a “military tribunal."

Even so, Britain’s Defense Ministry said Monday that “Kyiv remains Russia’s primary military objective” and that Moscow is likely to try to...