Ukrainians refuse Russian surrender deal

About 500 civilians, possibly 40 of them children, plus an unknown number of Ukrainian forces are trapped inside the Azot chemical plant in Severodonetsk. The city is in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas, where fighting with Russia is the most intense. Russia said it would give Ukrainian troops a chance to surrender at 8 a.m. Wednesday morning and be taken to an area controlled by Russian forces. Ukrainian officials have not acknowledged the offer, and the troops did not surrender.

What’s happening in the rest of Ukraine? Russia used long-range missiles to destroy a depot in the western city of Lviv that held ammunition for NATO-supplied weapons. Ukrainian and Western officials said the Donbas region will be a deciding factor in the war and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said they need more weapons to keep Russia from taking it. President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that the U.S. will send $1 billion in military aid to Ukraine in the single largest weapons package since the war began. NATO members are meeting Wednesday and Thursday to discuss bids by Ukraine, Sweden, and Finland to join the group. 

Dig deeper: Read WORLD’s latest coverage of the war in Ukraine.