KYIV (Reuters) – Around 100 people were evacuated from Mariupol’s Azovstal steelworks. They are due to reach a Ukrainian-held town on Monday. This was after U.S. Speaker Nancy Pelosi surprised Kyiv.

This strategic port city at the Azov sea has been under the worst siege since the conflict with Russia. It is now in its third month. On Sunday, Pope Francis made implicit criticisms of Moscow by telling thousands in St Peter’s Square that it was “barbarously bombed”.

Zelenskiy, in a nightly broadcast, stated that for the first two days, there was a ceasefire. “We managed to exterminate more than 100 civilians — women and children.

After the U.N.’s confirmation of a “safe passage operation”, the U.N. said the first evacuatees were expected to arrive in Zaporizhzhia (under Ukrainian control) on Monday morning.

Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister, stated that hundreds of civilians are still trapped at the steelworks. This complex was built in Soviet times and includes a number of tunnels and bunkers.

“The situation has become a sign of a real humanitarian catastrophe, because people are running out of water, food and medicine,” Vereshchuk said on Telegram late on Sunday.

Video footage taken inside the steelworks shows members of the Azov Regit helping civilians through rubble to get onto buses.

A group of young children and an older person assisting the evacuee said that survivors are running out fast.

“Children have always loved to eat. She added, “You know that adults can wait,”

After fleeing from Mariupol on Sunday, more than 50 people arrived at a temporary accommodation facility in Russian-controlled territory.

A convoy of U.N.- and Russian military vehicles brought the civilians to Bezimenne. It is located around 30 km (18 mi) east Mariupol. There, a row blue tents were set up.

Mariupol’s council stated that the plan to evacuate citizens from the areas surrounding the steelworks has been postponed to Monday morning.

‘UNTIL VICTORY’

After failing to capture Kyiv during the first weeks of the war, Russia’s military now focuses on Ukraine’s east and south after being unable to do so. The conflict has left cities shattered and killed thousands and forced over 5 million people to flee their country.

After meeting Zelenskiy, U.S. House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi promised continued U.S. support to Ukraine until victory was won.

Zelenskiy uploaded footage to Twitter (NYSE:), Sunday. He was flanked and dressed in military fatigues by an armed contingent, greeting a U.S.Congressional delegation led by Pelosi at his presidential office.

“Until victory is won, we stand with Ukraine.” We stand with NATO allies in supporting Ukraine,” Pelosi said Sunday, at a Polish press conference.

Zelenskiy was highly praised for the substantive four-hours of discussions with Pelosi on U.S. weapon deliveries. He also expressed gratitude to Ukraine’s allies who visited Kyiv during such difficult times.

U.S. Senate Democratic Chairman Chuck Schumer announced in New York that he would include provisions to a package of $33 billion Ukraine assistance to enable the United States seize Russian oligarchs assets and to send money to Kyiv from them.

Moscow refers to its actions as “special military operation”, designed to destroy Ukraine’s anti-Russian nationalism and disarm it. According to the West, Russia declared an unprovoked war on aggression against Ukraine.

Moscow seeks to seize control of Donbas. Before the invasion, Russian-backed separatists controlled large swathes of Luhansk Province and Donetsk Province.

Sergei Lavrov (Russian Foreign Minister) stated that Moscow was only interested in ensuring the security of prorussians living in Ukraine’s east, and not requiring Zelenskiy to “give his life” for peace.

We demand that the order be issued to civilians, and that resistance is stopped. “Our aim doesn’t include regime change” Lavrov claimed in a media interview that was published online by his ministry.

In the wee hours of Monday, two explosions occurred in Belgorod (the southern Russian region bordering Ukraine), Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on social media. Gladkov claimed that there weren’t any casualties and no damage.