Russia’s offensive in coastal southern Ukraine and in the eastern industrial heart of the country has forced Ukrainian forces to fight village by village and more civilians to flee airstrikes and artillery bombardment as the war draws to a close. Thousands of residents are believed to be trapped with little food, water or medicine in the besieged Mariupol. The United Nations was working to mediate the evacuation of up to 1,000 civilians, who were chased by about 2,000 Ukrainian fighters under an extensive Soviet-era steel plant that is the only part of the city not occupied by the Russians. Footage released early Sunday by the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shows Pelosi in Kyiv with a congressional delegation consisting of representatives of Jason Crowe, Jim McGovern, Gregory Mick and Ada. The visit had not been announced before.
“Your fight is a fight for everyone”
“We believe in your visit to thank you for your fight for freedom,” said Pelosi, who is the second in a row for the US presidency after the vice president and top US leader who has visited Ukraine since his inception. the war.
“We are on the border of freedom and your struggle is a struggle for everyone. Our commitment is to be by your side until the struggle is over,” Pelozi added.
Pelosi’s office did not say when the meeting took place, but light in the video and other details suggest the meeting took place on Saturday. Members of Congress Barbara Lee and Bill Keating were also named as members of the delegation, although it was not clear if they were in Kyiv.
A woman weeps as relatives and activists gather to demand that international leaders organize a humanitarian corridor to evacuate Ukrainian troops and civilians from Mariupol amid a Russian-led invasion of central Ukraine on Saturday. (Efrem Lukatsky / The Associated Press)
The delegation was scheduled to hold a press conference in the Polish city of Rzeszow on Sunday.
Russian forces have launched a major military operation to occupy large parts of southern and eastern Ukraine after failing to occupy the capital. Mariupol is an important target due to its strategic location near the Crimean peninsula, which Russia occupied from Ukraine in 2014.
Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency reported on Saturday that 19 adults and six children had been pulled from the Azovstal steel plant, but gave no further details.
“These are women and children”
A senior official of the Azov Regiment, the Ukrainian unit defending the plant, said 20 civilians had been evacuated during the ceasefire, although it was unclear if he was referring to the same group. There was no confirmation from the UN “These are women and children,” Sviatoslav Palamar said in a video posted on the constitution’s Telegram channel. He also 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 territory controlled by Ukraine.” Ukraine has blamed the failure of several previous evacuation attempts on the ongoing Russian bombing. UN humanitarian spokesman Saviano Abreu said the world body was negotiating with authorities in Moscow and Kyiv over evacuations from Mariupol, but could not give details of the ongoing effort “due to the complexity and liquidity” of the operation. . Abreu did not confirm the video posted on social media that allegedly shows UN-marked vehicles in Mariupol. In the city of Lyman in the Donetsk region, where at least half the population has fled the Russian bombing, about 20 elderly people and children carrying bags with their dogs and cats boarded a Ukrainian-evacuated minivan. . He rushed to the city of Dnipro as explosions were heard from afar.
“From what did he set us free? Our lives? ‘
“The liberators came and freed us from what? Our lives?” said Nina Mihaylenko, a professor of Russian language and literature, referring to Russian forces.
Videos and images from inside the factory, shared with the Associated Press by two Ukrainians who said their husbands were among the fighters refusing to surrender there, show unknown men with stained bandages. others had open wounds or amputated limbs.
The medical staff of the skeleton treated at least 600 wounded, the women said, who recognized their husbands as members of the Azov National Guard Regiment of Ukraine. Some of the wounds were rotting with gangrene, they said.
Destroyed houses are photographed in Irpin, on the outskirts of Kiev, Ukraine, on Saturday. (Emilio Morenatti / The Associated Press)
In the video, the men said that they only eat once a day and share only 1.5 liters of water a day between four people and that supplies inside the besieged facility are running out.
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. “The lives of soldiers are also important,” Yulia Fedusic told the AP in Rome.
Zelensky delivers the speech in part in Russian
In a video overnight late Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky changed his mind to urge Russian troops not to fight in Ukraine, saying even their generals expected thousands more to die. The president 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. “Better to survive in Russia than get lost in our land.” In other developments:
Ukraine’s Deputy Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotsky said in a televised statement that Russian forces had seized hundreds of thousands of tonnes of grain in areas under their control. Ukraine is a major producer of grain and the invasion has boosted world prices and raised concerns about shortages. A Russian rocket attack has destroyed the runway at Odessa, Ukraine’s third most populous city and a major Black Sea port, the Ukrainian military has said.
It was difficult to get a full picture of the unfolding battle in eastern Ukraine, as airstrikes and artillery barricades have made the circulation of journalists extremely dangerous. Both Ukraine and Moscow-backed rebels have also imposed severe restrictions on reports from the battle zone.
Russia’s human resources far exceed those of Ukraine
However, Western military analysts have suggested that the attack in the Donbas area, which includes Mariupol, was proceeding much more slowly than planned. So far, Russian troops and separatists appear to have made only small gains in the month since Moscow said it would focus its military power on the east.
Numerically, Russia’s military manpower far exceeds that of Ukraine. In the days before the start of the war, Western intelligence estimated that Russia had deployed up to 190,000 troops near the border. Ukraine’s permanent army totals about 200,000, spread across the country.
Hollywood movie star and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie poses with children in Lviv, Ukraine, on Saturday. (Maksym Kozutsky / Lviv City Hall / The Associated Press)
With ample firepower still in reserve, Russia’s attack could still intensify and overwhelm the Ukrainians. In total, the Russian army has about 900,000 active-duty personnel. Russia also has a much larger air force and navy.
Hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid have flowed into Ukraine since the start of the war, but Russia’s huge arsenal means Ukraine will continue to demand huge amounts of support.
title: “Us House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Meets With Zelensky In Kyiv Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-01” author: “Hermelinda Senethavilouk”
Russia’s offensive in coastal southern Ukraine and in the eastern industrial heart of the country has forced Ukrainian forces to fight village by village and more civilians to flee airstrikes and artillery bombardment as the war draws to a close.
Thousands of residents are believed to be trapped with little food, water or medicine in the besieged Mariupol. The United Nations was working to mediate the evacuation of up to 1,000 civilians, who were chased by about 2,000 Ukrainian fighters under an extensive Soviet-era steel plant that is the only part of the city not occupied by the Russians.
Footage released early Sunday by the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shows Pelosi in Kyiv with a congressional delegation consisting of representatives of Jason Crowe, Jim McGovern, Gregory Mick and Ada. The visit had not been announced before.
Meeting with the Speaker of the US House of Representatives pic.twitter.com/QXSBPFoGQh
– @ ZelenskyyUa
In a video later released from Pelosi’s office, the speaker and Zelensky thank each other for their support in the war.
“We will win and we will win together,” Zelenski said.
Pelozi added: “We are here until we win.”
“Your fight is a fight for everyone”
“We believe in your visit to thank you for your fight for freedom,” said Pelosi, who is the second in a row for the US presidency after the vice president and top US leader who has visited Ukraine since his inception. the war.
“We are on the border of freedom and your struggle is a struggle for everyone. Our commitment is to be by your side until the struggle is over,” Pelozi added.
“Our delegation traveled to Kyiv to send an unequivocal and resounding message to the whole world: America stands firmly on the side of Ukraine,” he said in a statement on Sunday.
The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, right, awards the Order of Princess Olga, third class, to the Speaker of the US Parliament Nancy Pelosi in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Saturday. Pelosi, second in line to the presidency after the vice president, is the highest-ranking US leader to visit Ukraine since the start of the war. (Press Office of the Ukrainian Presidential Press via AP)
The delegation continued its journey to southeastern Poland, and Pelosi said she would later visit the capital, Warsaw, to meet with President Andrei Duda and other senior officials. Poland has received more than three million refugees from Ukraine since Russia launched its war on February 24.
“We look forward to thanking our Polish allies for their dedication and humanitarian efforts,” he said.
Russian forces have launched a major military operation to occupy large parts of southern and eastern Ukraine after failing to occupy the capital. Mariupol is an important target due to its strategic location near the Crimean peninsula, which Russia occupied from Ukraine in 2014.
Two groups of citizens left the residential area around the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol in southern Ukraine on Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Sunday.
Civilians fleeing an area near the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol are being escorted by a member of the International Committee of the Red Cross to a temporary shelter in the Ukrainian village of Bezimenne on Sunday. (Alexander Ermochenko / Reuters)
The ministry said a total of 46 civilians had fled the area and were provided with food and shelter. Hundreds of Ukrainian fighters and some civilians are believed to be trapped in the huge factory after the Russian siege of the port city. Many attempts to arrange a ceasefire to allow residents to leave the city have collapsed, with Moscow and Kyiv repeatedly blaming each other.
Meanwhile, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported on Saturday that 19 adults and six children had been pulled from the Azovstal steel plant, but gave no further details.
“These are women and children”
A senior official of the Azov Regiment, the Ukrainian unit defending the plant, said 20 civilians had been evacuated during the ceasefire, although it was unclear if he was referring to the same group. There was no confirmation from the UN.
“These are women and children,” Sviatoslav Palamar said in a video posted on the constitution’s Telegram channel. He also 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 territory controlled by Ukraine.”
Ukraine has blamed the failure of several previous evacuation attempts on the ongoing Russian bombing.
UN humanitarian spokesman Saviano Abreu said the world body was negotiating with authorities in Moscow and Kyiv over evacuations from Mariupol, but could not give details of the ongoing effort “due to the complexity and liquidity” of the operation. .
People sit on a bus during the evacuation from the port of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine on Saturday. (Evgeniy Maloletka / The Associated Press)
Abreu did not confirm the video posted on social media that allegedly shows UN-marked vehicles in Mariupol.
In the city of Lyman in the Donetsk region, where at least half the population has fled the Russian bombing, about 20 elderly people and children carrying bags with their dogs and cats boarded a Ukrainian-evacuated minivan. . He rushed to the city of Dnipro as explosions were heard from afar.
“From what did he set us free? Our lives? ‘
“The liberators came and freed us from what? Our lives?” said Nina Mihaylenko, a professor of Russian language and literature, referring to Russian forces. About 100,000 people are still believed to be in the port city, including civilians being chased by about 2,000 Ukrainian fighters under the vast Soviet-era steel plant that is the only part of the city not occupied by the Russians. Details of the extent of Saturday’s evacuations and the possibility of more on Sunday were unclear, given the number of parties involved in the negotiations and the volatile situation on the ground. A woman weeps as relatives and activists gather to demand that international leaders organize a humanitarian corridor to evacuate Ukrainian troops and civilians from Mariupol amid a Russian-led invasion of central Ukraine on Saturday. (Efrem Lukatsky / The Associated Press)
Zelensky delivers the speech in part in Russian
In a video overnight late Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky changed his mind to urge Russian troops not to fight in Ukraine, saying even their generals expected thousands more to die. The president warned that Russia was “gathering additional forces for new attacks against our army in the east of the country.” and accused Moscow of recruiting new soldiers “with little motivation and little combat experience” so that units that broke out at the start of the war could be thrown back into battle. “But why do Russian soldiers need it? Why do their families need it?” said Zelensky in Russian. “Every Russian soldier can still save his life,” Zelensky said. “Better to survive in Russia than get lost in our land.”
