The Russian party United Russia has opened its headquarters in Mariupol, the local city council reports. The news also appeared on the party's website. The headquarters works on the premises of a Metro store. It distributes party newspapers and issues SIM cards for the Phoenix mobile network which has been in operation in the DNR since 2014. United Russia promises to organize the distribution of humanitarian aid – food, basic necessities, and household chemicals - at their headquarters.
On March 21, the Mariupol City Council reported via its Telegram channel that a Russian military vehicle was driving around the city and using a loudspeaker to misinform locals that Zaporizhye was no longer accepting refugees and they needed to go to Russia, and that Odessa had been seized. In addition, Russian invaders in the village of Nikolskoye were spreading misinformation that evacuation from the village is only possible by bus to Rostov-on-Don.
The mayor of Mariupol, Vadim Boychenko, reported that several thousand city residents had been put into filtration camps and then taken out of the country by the Russian military. He compared it to what the Nazis did during World War II.
Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry issued a written ultimatum to the Ukrainian government demanding the surrender of the city of Mariupol. The Ukrainian authorities refused.