LVIV, Ukraine — Fresh from an unannounced visit to Kyiv, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met Monday with the president of Poland, thanking him and his country for taking in the lion’s share of Ukrainians who have fled their country since the war there began.
The United Nations says the number of Ukrainian refugees has now topped 5.5 million. The world body was also assisting Monday with a second day of evacuations from the southern city of Mariupol, where at least hundreds of people have been surrounded by Russian troops in a sprawling steel plant that has become the last redoubt of Ukrainian forces and some civilians.
Pelosi, who was joined by several high-ranking congressional Democrats, said in a statement from Warsaw that they “expressed America’s deep gratitude to the Polish government and Polish people” for taking in refugees and aiding Ukrainian fighters. Polish President Andrzej Duda, in brief public remarks, called the war a “crucial” time for his country.
