House Speaker Nancy Pelosi leads Congressional delegation in surprise visit to Kyiv

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) led a small delegation of Democrats to visit Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky in Kyiv this weekend in a surprise visit to the war torn capital city.

Arriving in Kyiv on Saturday morning, Pelosi and the delegation met with Zelensky and other top Ukrainian officials to discuss how the United States can further aid Ukraine in its fight against Russian forces, and to reiterate the US commitment to bolstering Ukraine’s military until the end of the Kremlin’s assault.

Video released after the meeting shows Pelosi and Zelensky greeting each other outside in the streets of Kyiv, surrounded by top Ukrainian officials and the US Congressional delegation. Pelosi traveled to Ukraine with Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Rep. William R. Keating (D-MA) and Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO).

In a video clip released by Zelensky after the visit, Pelosi is seen telling the Ukrainians, “We are visiting you to say thank you for your fight for freedom, that we’re on a frontier of freedom and that your fight is a fight for everyone. And so our commitment is to be there for you until the fight is done.”

Zelensky is also seen in the video, responding, “I am grateful to you for this signal, this signal of strong support for Ukraine, support of the U.S., support of the people of the U.S., of Congress, the support of two houses [of Congress] and two parties.”

Upon the delegation’s departure from Kyiv and to Poland, Pelosi told reporters, “We were proud to convey to him a message of unity from the Congress of the US. A message of appreciation from the American people for his leadership and admiration to the people of Ukraine for their courage,” she said. “America stands with Ukraine, we stand with Ukraine until victory is won, and we stand with NATO.”

The visit marks the highest official visit from the United States government to Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February.