Zelenskyy calls US visit 'powerful' signal

Kyiv: Ukraine's president is describing his hourslong weekend meeting with US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Kyiv as a powerful signal of support in a difficult time.

In a televised address on Sunday evening, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his meeting with Pelosi included discussions of defense supplies to Ukraine, financial support and sanctions against Russia.

Pelosi and a half dozen U.S. lawmakers met with Zelenskyy and his top aides for about three hours late Saturday to voice American solidarity with the besieged nation and get a first-hand assessment as she works to steer a massive new Ukraine aid package through Congress.

Zelenskyy says Ukrainians “are grateful to all partners who send such important and powerful signals of support by visiting our capital at such a difficult time.” Additionally, Zelenskyy estimated that more than 350,000 people had been evacuated from combat zones thanks to humanitarian corridors pre-arranged with Moscow since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late February. Many civilians were evacuated Sunday from at a steel plant in the bombed-out city of Mariupol.