Live updates l Zelenskyy calls US visit ‘powerful’ signal

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s president is describing his hourslong weekend meeting with U.S. 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.

___

KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:

— Evacuations underway at steel plant in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol

— Pelosi leads delegation to Kyiv and Poland; vows US support

— Combat death puts spotlight on Americans fighting in Ukraine

— Wives of Mariupol defenders appeal for soldiers’ evacuation

— Look for the orange vest: Ukrainians in Romania help others

— Germany vows to stop using Russian oil exports by late summer.

Follow all AP stories on Russia’s war on Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

___

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

KYIV, Ukraine — A Ukrainian military officer says that Russian forces have resumed their shelling of a steel plant in the war-torn port city Mariupol immediately after the partial evacuation of civilians.

Ukrainian National Guard brigade commander Denys Shlega said Sunday in a televised interview that the shelling began as soon as rescue crews ceased evacuating civilians at the Azovstal steel mill.

Shlega says that at least one more round of evacuations is needed to clear civilians from the plant. He says dozens of small children remain in bunkers below the industrial facilities.

The commander estimates that several hundred civilians still are trapped at the site alongside nearly 500 wounded soldiers and numerous dead bodies. The plant is the only part of the city not occupied by the Russians.

A video published earlier on Sunday by the Russian defense ministry showed people walking out of the steel plant, including a small group of women accompanied by two pet dogs.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Sunday’s evacuations from Mariupol marked the initiation of a vitally need humanitarian corridor.

___

BERLIN — Germany says it’s making progress on weaning itself off Russian fossil fuels and expects to be fully independent of crude oil imports from Russia by late summer.

Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck said Sunday that Europe’s largest economy has reduced its share of Russian energy imports to 12% for oil, 8% for coal and 35% for natural gas.

Habeck says…