A top-level US congressional delegation led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi praised the "ferocity" and resolve of Ukrainians face to face with their leader in a weekend visit to Kyiv undertaken in extraordinary secrecy.
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Pelosi, second in line to the presidency after the vice president, was the most senior American lawmaker to visit Ukraine since Russia's war began more than two months ago. Only days earlier, Russia bombed the Ukrainian capital while the UN secretary-general was there.
Pelosi and the half dozen US lawmakers with her met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his top aides for three hours late Saturday to voice American solidarity with the besieged nation and get a first-hand assessment of the effort as she works to steer a massive new Ukraine aid package through Congress.
"Our commitment is to be there for you until the fight is done," Pelosi is seen telling Zelenskyy in a video of the meeting released by his office. "We are on a frontier of freedom and your fight is a fight for everyone. Thank you for your fight for freedom."
"You all are welcome," Zelenskyy told the delegation.
Pelosi told reporters in Poland on Sunday the delegation was proud to convey to Zelenskyy "the message of unity from the Congress of the United States, a message of appreciation from the American people for his leadership and admiration for the people of Ukraine for their courage." She is set to meet Polish President Andrzej Duda, a NATO ally, on Monday in Warsaw.
More than 5.5 million people have fled Ukraine since the war began on Feb. 24, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reported on Monday.
The delegation's trip to Kyiv was not disclosed until the party was safely out of Ukraine. Nor were details given on how they got to the capital and back. A week earlier, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin Zelenskyy traveled to Kyiv overland from Poland for talks with Zelenskyy.
The members of the congressional delegation were unanimous in praising Ukraine's defenses, painting the battle of one as good against evil and assuring continued long-term US military, humanitarian and economic support.
"This is a struggle of freedom against tyranny," said Rep. Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
The trip came two days after US President Joe Biden asked Congress for $33 billion to bolster Ukraine's fight against Russia, more than twice the size of the initial $13.6 billion aid measure that now is almost drained. The measure is designed to signal to Russian President Vladimir Putin that US weaponry and other forms of assistance aren't going away.
Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, a veteran and a member of the House intelligence and armed services committees, said he went to Ukraine with three areas of focus: "Weapons, weapons, and weapons."
"We have to make sure the Ukrainians have what they need to win," he said. "What we have seen in the last two months is their ferocity, their intense pride, their ability to fight, and their ability to win if they have the support to do so."
Scores of US lawmakers are trekking to the region to witness firsthand the war's toll and shore up US troops in the broader region. Pelosi's delegation was notable for the seniority of its members.
Though all in the delegation were Democrats, the US Congress has displayed a rare and, so far, lasting bipartisan resolve to back Ukraine as it battles Russia. Pelosi has branded the war a conflict between democracy and autocracy and vowed Washington will stand with Ukraine until it defeats the invaders.
Pelosi came with Rep. Gregory Meeks, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, chair of the House Rules Committee; Reps. Barbara Lee of California and Bill Keating of Massachusetts, Crow and Schiff.
"This is a time we stand up for democracy or we allow autocracy to rule the day," Meeks said. Crow said the US "is in this to win, and we will stand with Ukraine until victory is won."
Schiff, as intelligence panel chair, said he was particularly focused on making sure Ukraine is getting the US intelligence support it needs to "defeat Russian forces."
The delegation's visit followed those of several EU officials and European heads of state that have gone to show solidarity with Zelenskyy, starting with the March 15 surprise visit by the leaders of NATO members the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovenia.
More recently, UN Secretary-General António Guterres met Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Thursday. A missile strike rained down on the capital barely an hour after their joint press conference, an attack Kyiv's mayor said was Putin giving his "middle finger" to Guterres.
The delegation was visiting southeast Poland and going later to the capital. Poland has received more than 3 million refugees from Ukraine since Russia launched its war on Feb. 24.
"We look forward to thanking our Polish allies for their dedication and humanitarian efforts," Pelosi said.
McGovern said Russia's war had repercussions far beyond Ukraine and was exacerbating a food crisis that would be disastrous for poor people across the globe.
"Putin's brutal war is no longer only a war against the people of Ukraine," McGovern said. "It's also a war against the world's most vulnerable."
He added: "I don't think that Putin cares if he starves the world."
Also on Monday, a Ukrainian Bayraktar drone destroyed two Russian Raptor-class patrol ships in the Black Sea on Monday, Ukraine's military chief said.
"Two Russian Raptor-class boats were destroyed at dawn today near Zmiinyi (Snake) Island," Chief of General Staff Valeriy Zaluzhniy wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
There was no immediate reaction from Moscow to the claim.
Meanwhile, the European Union is leaning toward banning imports of Russian oil by the end of the year, two EU diplomats said after talks between the European Commission and EU states over the weekend.
The EU is preparing its sixth package of sanctions against Moscow, expected to target Russian oil, Belarusian and Russian banks, as well as other individuals and companies.
Small groups of EU countries had talks dubbed "confessionals" with the European Commission, which is aiming to firm up its sanctions plan before a meeting with EU ambassadors on Wednesday.
EU energy ministers were also expected to meet in Belgium's capital Brussels on Monday to discuss the issue.
The diplomats told Reuters that some EU states are able to end their use of Russian oil by the year's end, but others – particularly more southerly countries – are concerned about the impact on prices.
Germany, which buys a lot of oil from Russia, appeared willing to go along with the import cut-off, the diplomats said. But countries like Austria, Hungary, Italy, and Slovakia had reservations.
An advisor to Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Berlin is behind an EU ban on Russian oil imports but would need some time to secure alternatives.
"We're asking for a considered wind-down period," the Financial Times quoted Joerg Kukies as saying.
"We want to stop buying Russian oil, but we need a bit of time to make sure we can get other sources of oil into our country," he said.
In the strategic port city of Mariupol on the Azov Sea, which has endured the most destructive siege of the war with Russia, around 100 civilians were evacuated from the ruined Azovstal steelworks plant.
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On Sunday, Pope Francis, in an implicit criticism of Moscow, told thousands of people in St Peter's Square the city had been "barbarously bombarded."
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said hundreds of civilians remain trapped in the steelworks, a vast Soviet-era complex with a network of bunkers and tunnels.
"The situation has become a sign of a real humanitarian catastrophe because people are running out of water, food, and medicine," Vereshchuk said on Telegram late on Sunday.
Footage from inside the steelworks showed members of the Azov regiment helping civilians through rubble and onto a bus.
One older evacuee accompanied by young children said survivors were fast running out of food.
"Children always wanted to eat. You know, adults can wait," she added.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow only wanted to guarantee the security of pro-Russian Ukrainians in the east and was not demanding that Zelenskyy "give himself up" as a condition for peace.
"We are demanding that he issue an order to release civilians and stop resistance. Our aim does not include regime change in Ukraine," Lavrov said in a media interview published on his ministry's website.
