{"id":40874,"date":"2022-05-01T18:14:27","date_gmt":"2022-05-02T00:14:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorados-crow-travels-with-pelosi-to-kyiv-for-meeting-with-zelenskyy\/"},"modified":"2022-05-02T00:14:27","modified_gmt":"2022-05-02T00:14:27","slug":"colorados-crow-travels-with-pelosi-to-kyiv-for-meeting-with-zelenskyy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorados-crow-travels-with-pelosi-to-kyiv-for-meeting-with-zelenskyy\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado\u2019s Crow travels with Pelosi to Kyiv for meeting with Zelenskyy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"U.S.
U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi arrives with her delegation before her meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in Kyiv on April 30. Rep. Jason Crow, D-Centennial, is at the right. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

WARSAW, Poland \u2013 A U.S. congressional delegation led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi praised the courage of the Ukrainian people in remarks during a visit to Poland on Sunday, a day after a surprise trip to Kyiv to meet with President Volodymr Zelenskyy.<\/p>\n

The American legislators assessed Ukraine\u2019s needs for the next phase of the war, with Pelosi vowing that Washington would stand with the country until it defeats Russia.<\/p>\n

Pelosi, a California Democrat who is second in line to the presidency after the vice president, was the most senior American lawmaker to visit Ukraine since Russia\u2019s war began more than two months ago. Her previously unannounced visit came just days after Moscow bombed the Ukrainian capital while the U.N. secretary-general was there.<\/p>\n

Pelosi and a half-dozen U.S. lawmakers \u2013 including U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, D-Centennial \u2014 met for three hours late Saturday with Zelenskyy and his top aides to get a first-hand assessment of the war effort to date. Speaking to reporters Sunday in Poland, the delegation members were unanimous in praising Ukraine\u2019s defenses so far, in painting the battle of one as good against evil and in assuring continued long-term U.S. military, humanitarian and economic support.<\/p>\n

\"In
In this image released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office on Sunday, May 1, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, third from right, and U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, third from left, talk during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, April 30, 2022. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWe were proud to convey to him the message of unity from the Congress of the United States, a message of appreciation from the American people for his leadership and admiration for the people of Ukraine for their courage,\u201d Pelosi said.<\/p>\n

Their visit came two days after U.S. President Joe Biden asked Congress for $33 billion to bolster Ukraine\u2019s fight against Russia, more than twice the size of the initial $13.6 billion aid measure that Congress enacted early last month and now is almost drained. With the war dragging into its third month, the measure was designed to signal to Russian President Vladimir Putin that U.S. weaponry and other forms of assistance weren\u2019t going away.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a time we stand up for democracy or we allow autocracy to rule the day,\u201d said Rep. Gregory Meeks, a Democrat from New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a struggle of freedom against tyranny,\u201d said Rep. Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California. \u201cAnd in that struggle, Ukraine is on the front lines.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. Jason Crow, a Democrat from Colorado, a veteran and a member of the House intelligence and armed services committee, said he came to Ukraine with three areas of focus: \u201cWeapons, weapons and weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to make sure the Ukrainians have what they need to win. What we have seen in the last two months is their ferocity, their intense pride, their ability to fight and their ability to win if they have the support to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe United States of America is in this to win, and we will stand with Ukraine until victory is won,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\"Ukrainian
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center right, and U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi pose for a picture with members of their entourage, including Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, left, during their meeting in Kyiv on April 30. 22. Rep. Jason Crow, D-Centennial, stands at Pelosi\u2019s right. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The full congressional delegation included Meeks, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee; Schiff, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee; Jim McGovern of Massachusetts who chairs the House Rules Committee; Crow, Barbara Lee of California; and Bill Keating of Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou all are welcome,\u201d Zelenskyy told the delegation, according to a video of the encounter released by his office.<\/p>\n

Pelosi told Zelenskyy: \u201cWe believe that we are visiting you to say thank you for your fight for freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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,\u201d Pelosi added.<\/p>\n

The delegation continued its trip in southeast Poland, and members were later visiting the capital, Warsaw, to meet with President Andrzej Duda and other senior officials. Poland has received more than 3 million refugees from Ukraine since Russia launched its war on Feb. 24.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe look forward to thanking our Polish allies for their dedication and humanitarian efforts,\u201d Pelosi said.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a news conference in Poland, Pelosi said she and others in the delegation applauded the courage of the Ukrainian people. She added that the delegation brought Zelenskyy \u201ca message of appreciation from the American people for his leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

McGovern said Russia\u2019s war had repercussions far beyond Ukraine, saying it was exacerbating a food crisis that would be disastrous for poor people across the globe.<\/p>\n

\u201cPutin\u2019s brutal war is no longer only a war against the people of Ukraine,\u201d McGovern said. \u201cIt\u2019s also a war against the world\u2019s most vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that Ukraine is a \u201cbreadbasket of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think that Putin cares if he starves the world,\u201d McGovern said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

he came to Ukraine with three areas of focus: \u2018weapons, weapons and weapons\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,265,1147],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-40874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-politics","tag-war"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40874"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=40874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}