Nancy Pelosi meets Ukrainian president in Kyiv

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has led a Congressional delegation to Kyiv to meet Ukraine’s president before heading to Poland for talks with officials there.

Ms Pelosi, a California Democrat and second in line to the presidency after the vice president, is the highest-ranking American leader to visit Ukraine since the start of the war, and her visit marks a major show of continuing support for the country’s struggle against Russia.

“Our delegation travelled to Kyiv to send an unmistakable and resounding message to the entire world: America stands firmly with Ukraine,” she said in a statement released on Sunday.

Footage released by President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office showed Ms Pelosi and other US legislators in Kyiv.

The full Congressional delegation included Democratic Representatives Gregory Meeks of New York, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee; Adam Schiff of California, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee; Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, who chairs the House Rules Committee; Jason Crow of Colorado; Barbara Lee of California; and Bill Keating of Massachusetts.

“You all are welcome,” Mr Zelensky told the delegation.

Ms Pelosi told the Ukrainian leader: “We believe that we are visiting you to say thank you for your fight for freedom.

“We are on a frontier of freedom and your fight is a fight for everyone. Our commitment is to be there for you until the fight is done.”

The visit was not previously announced.

Ms Pelosi said the delegation will continue its trip in south-east Poland and the capital, Warsaw, to meet President Andrzej Duda and other senior officials. Poland has received more than three million refugees from Ukraine since Russia launched its war on February 24.

“We look forward to thanking our Polish allies for their dedication and humanitarian efforts,” she said.