Defending Mariupol until the last dead Azov is one Ukrainian strategy I could endorse.

Ukraine says it will never surrender its cities

After his government rejected out of hand a 5am Monday deadline to cease fighting for Mariupol, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said the country would no more give up the besieged southern city than it would Kyiv or Kharkiv.

Ukraine on Monday also turned down an offer from Moscow’s military to open two humanitarian corridors out of Mariupol, one leading eastwards into Russia and the other north to Ukrainian-held territory, in exchange for capitulation.

Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said there could be “no question of any surrender, laying down of arms” in the stricken city, another key port, although she added the situation there was “very difficult”.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/21/ukraine-rejects-moscow-mariupol-ultimatum-as-airstrikes-hit-odesa-and-kyiv


from comments -

"Smart move by Russians to let the 2 helicopters pick up escapees and then only shoot them down."

"First one helicopter was sent, but the Russians shot it down before it could land. Later, two were sent, which Russia let through, then shot them down after they took off with their evil contents."