A senior Ukrainian soldier at the Azovstal steel plant said about 20 women and children had left as US Parliament Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, where he pledged support for his country’s “freedom struggle”. Pelosi, whose visit was not announced in advance, is the highest-ranking US official to meet the Ukrainian president since the start of the war. About 1,000 civilians and 2,000 Ukrainian fighters are believed to be sheltering under the Azovstal steelworks, the only part of the ruined city not occupied by Russian forces. Late Saturday, a senior soldier in Azov’s regiment in the Soviet-era steel industry said 20 women and children had managed to get out. “We are pulling civilians out of the rubble with ropes – they are the elderly, women and children,” Sviatoslav Palamar told Reuters. On his Telegram channel, Palamar called for the evacuation of the injured: “We do not know why they are not being evacuated and their evacuation is not being discussed in the area controlled by Ukraine.” Russia’s Defense Ministry announced on Sunday that 46 people had left Azovstal’s projects, according to the state-run Ria Novosti news agency. Russian forces have eliminated the once-thriving port of Mariupol, an important target for Moscow because of its strategic location near Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014. Nancy Pelosi promises US support for Ukraine “until the fight” in a meeting with Zelensky – video Zelensky, meanwhile, released footage Sunday of a previous meeting between him and Pelosi and US House of Representatives Jason Crowe, Jim McGovern, Gregory Micks and Adam Siff. The American speaker promised the support of America “until the end of the fight”. “We are visiting to thank you for your fight for freedom,” he said in a video posted on Zelensky’s Twitter account. “And that your fight is a fight for everyone, and so our commitment is to be by your side until the fight is over.” Last week, Joe Biden called for a $ 33 billion military, humanitarian and financial support package for Ukraine, more than doubling the level of US aid to date. The US President asked the Congress to immediately approve the aid, which will cover the entire defense budget of Ukraine. As the United States raises its support for Ukraine, the German chancellor has dismissed criticism that Berlin has not done enough. In an interview with Bild am Sonntag, Olaf Solz said that he made decisions “quickly and in consultation with our partners”. Ukraine is now looking to China, as well as other permanent members of the UN Security Council, for security guarantees. In an interview with China’s state-run Xinhua news agency on Sunday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said China’s proposal to provide security was “a sign of our respect and trust in the People’s Republic of China.” . On the 67th day of the war, Russia continued its redesigned campaign to occupy parts of southern and eastern Ukraine, after failing to occupy Kyiv. Russia’s Defense Ministry said Sunday that it had attacked an airport near Odessa and claimed to have destroyed a hangar containing weapons supplied by foreign countries. “The high-precision Onyx missiles at a military airport in the Odessa region destroyed a hangar with weapons and ammunition from the United States and European countries and also destroyed the runway,” a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman told RIA Novosti. The report has not been independently verified. Meanwhile, the governor of Kharkiv warned residents on Sunday not to leave the shelters due to the “intense bombardment”. Oleh Synyehubov urged residents in the northern and eastern districts of the city, especially in Saltivka, not to leave their shelters unless it is urgent. In a video overnight speech Saturday, Zelensky urged Russian troops not to fight in Ukraine, saying even their generals expected thousands more to die. He accused Moscow of recruiting new soldiers “with little motivation and little combat experience” so that units that broke out at the beginning of the war could be thrown back into battle. “Every Russian soldier can still save his life,” Zelensky said. “It is better to survive in Russia than to get lost in our land.” As the first civilians were reported to have left the Azovstal factory, the photos showed a dire situation for the several thousand who remained. Subscribe to the First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7 p.m. BST Videos and images shared with the Associated Press by two Ukrainians who said their wives were among the fighters refusing to surrender at the factory show unknown men with stained bandages, while others had open wounds or amputated limbs. Skeleton medical staff treated at least 600 wounded, the women said, who identified their husbands as members of Ukraine’s Azov regiment of the National Guard. Some of the wounds were rotting with gangrene, they said. In the video, the men said that they only ate once a day and distributed only 1.5 liters of water a day to four people and that supplies inside the besieged facilities were exhausted. The AP could not independently verify the date and location of the video, which the women said was taken last week in the maze of corridors and warehouses under the factory. The women urged the evacuation of the Ukrainian fighters along with the civilians, warning that they could be tortured and executed if arrested. “Soldiers’ lives are also important,” Yulia Fedushiuk told the news agency. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
