Mariupol evacuation push resumes; Nancy Pelosi met Zelenskyy in Kyiv

The United Nations began a "safe passage" operation Sunday to allow civilians to leave a steel plant in Mariupol that has been the last base for Ukrainian fighters and others in the besieged port city, according to a U.N. spokesman. Ukrainian officials estimate that up to 1,000 people have taken shelter at the complex.

On Saturday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, made a surprise trip to Kyiv with a congressional delegation, telling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that "our commitment is to be there for you until the fight is done." The meeting with Pelosi, the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Ukraine since Russia's invasion, was disclosed by Zelensky on Sunday.

The evacuation of civilians from the Mariupol steel plant has been a contentious point as Russia seeks control of the port city, a strategic prize for President Vladimir Putin. For weeks, civilians who sought shelter at the sprawling facility have remained underground with dwindling supplies of food and medicine. A small group of women and children was allowed to leave the plant on Saturday.

The United Nations confirmed Sunday that an operation to evacuate civilians from the battered steel plant in the besieged port city of Mariupol is underway.

Saviano Abreu, a spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told The Washington Post on Sunday that efforts to get people out of the industrial complex were "still on track and ongoing."

A U.N. convoy left the city of Zaporizhzhia, about 140 miles northwest of Mariupol, on Friday night and arrived at the plant Saturday morning to begin the evacuations. The safe-passage operation is being carried out in collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross and in coordination with Ukrainian and Russian officials.

Abreu described the operation as "extremely complex and risky." He declined to offer more details about the number of civilians successfully evacuated because, he said, it could "jeopardize the operation" and put the safety of both civilians and U.N. workers at risk.

Officials believe that up to 1,000 people have sought refuge at the large Azovstal complex, which has been pummeled for days by Russian strikes.

Zelensky confirmed Sunday that a first group of about 100 people was headed to "Ukrainian-controlled" territory, and said he will meet with the evacuees in Zaporizhzhia on Monday.

"I thank our team! Right now they, together with the representatives of the U.N., are working on the evacuation of the rest of the civilians from the territory of the factory," he wrote on Twitter.

The ICRC also confirmed that the operation is going ahead. In a statement sent Sunday to The Post, the humanitarian organization added that "no more details can be shared until the situation allows."In other developments:

- Fighting continues in the eastern city of Kharkiv, with local officials suggesting that Russia may be finally reducing the intensity of airstrikes and artillery attacks after a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

- Moscow's recent actions in the Russian-occupied region of Kherson - where civilians are facing an Internet blackout and the implementation of a plan to use Russian currency - "are likely indicative of Russian intent to exert strong political and economic influence in Kherson over the long term," according to a British intelligence update.

- Europe is scrambling to respond to the energy crisis prompted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, after Putin cut off natural gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland for refusing to pay in rubles.

- Pope Francis, addressing thousands of spectators Sunday in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican, described Russia's invasion of Ukraine as a "macabre regression of humanity" that makes him weep.

"I suffer and cry thinking of the suffering of the Ukrainian population, in particular the weakest, the elderly, the children," said the pope, who has condemned the war launched by Russia in late February. He mentioned the "children who are being expelled and deported" and called for peace, Reuters reported.

The 85-year-old pontiff called for more humanitarian corridors to be established so that civilians can be safely evacuated from the Mariupol steelworks, which has served as a refuge for civilians and where Ukrainian fighters defending the city from invading Russian forces are holding out.

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