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Ukraine's foreign minister says the evacuation of civilians from the besieged city of Mariupol remains "very fragile" after the first group were able to leave a bombed-out steel plant.
Dmytro Kuleba told reporters in Kyiv Monday that "things can fall apart at any given moment, so it's better to wait until the evacuation is over."
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video message that more than 100 civilians were able to leave Sunday, and that they were headed to Zaporizhzhia, about 200 kilometers away, although their progress was reported as slow. Kuleba said Monday the evacuation, conducted by the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, was still "underway" and declined to give more details until it was complete.
With Russian troops taking control of the rest of Mariupol, hundreds of civilians and an estimated 2,000 Ukrainian troops have been holed up at the Azovstal iron and steel works. Multiple earlier attempts to evacuate civilians from the site fell apart, with Ukraine accusing Russia of shelling evacuation routes.
Video footage posted by Ukrainian forces showed elderly women and mothers with small children climbing over a steep pile of rubble near the mammoth plant and eventually boarding a bus.
Kuleba said Monday that only civilians have so far been able to leave the plant and said Ukraine's government is continuing to work to negotiate an evacuation for soldiers holed up inside.
Russia's military said Monday that 69 people who came out of the steel mill chose to be evacuated to Ukraine-controlled territories, while 57 others asked to stay in areas controlled by Russia.
Ukraine has previously accused Russia of taking Ukrainians against their will to Russia, a charge Moscow denies.
Zelenskyy told Greek state television Monday that the remaining civilians in the steel plant were afraid to board buses because they believe they will be taken to Russia.
In other developments Monday, officials in the southwestern region of Odesa said a Russian missile strike hit the port city. The region's governor, Maksym Marchenko, said the strike killed and wounded people, but did not give causality numbers or identify what was hit. He said a missile also hit a strategically important bridge in the region.
Meanwhile in Washington, the CIA put out instructions on social media explaining how Russians disaffected by the war could get in touch with U.S. intelligence.
"We are providing Russian-language instructions on how to safely contact the CIA - via our Dark Web site or a reputable VPN - for those who feel compelled to reach us because of the Russian Government's unjust war," a CIA spokesperson said.
A senior U.S. defense official described continuing problems for Russia's military, including poor command and control issues and low morale in many units.
"We continue to see minimal at best progress by the Russians" in capturing the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine," the official said, adding, "They'll move in, declare victory and then pull out, allowing the Ukrainians to take it back."
The official described Russia's advances as "very cautious, very tepid, very uneven," and said, "in some places, quite frankly, the best word to describe it would be anemic."
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who along with six other Democratic lawmakers made an unannounced visit Saturday to Kyiv to meet with Zelenskyy, held talks Monday in Poland with President Andrzej Duda as Pelosi pledged support for NATO allies in their efforts to bolster Ukraine against Russia.
Pelosi told VOA that Russia has "done enough to justify the strongest possible military response, the strongest sanctions, to make the case that this is not tolerable."
"We shouldn't do anything less because of a threat from Russia," Pelosi said. "They have already delivered on their threat. They've killed children and families and civilians and the rest. And as I said yesterday, we don't respond to a bully."
Duda said at the start of their meeting that they would discuss "the situation in Ukraine, how to help them, what kind of support they need." He added that this is a "crucial" and "very difficult moment."
More than 5.5 million refugees have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded the country in late February, according to the United Nations, with more than 3 million of them going to Poland. Romania has taken in the second most with more than 800,000.
The White House announced Monday that first lady Jill Biden will begin a trip Thursday to Romania and Slovakia and that it will include meeting with Ukrainians displaced by Russia's invasion. Biden will also meet with aid workers, local families supporting Ukrainian refugees and educators who are helping Ukrainian children continue schooling.
Pelosi was the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Ukraine since the February 24 Russian invasion that has killed thousands of fighters on both sides and thousands of Ukrainian civilians.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said Pelosi's visit "sends a clear message that the United States stands with Ukraine and underscores the strong bipartisan commitment of the American people to supporting the brave people of Ukraine."
Speaking from Poland after leaving Kyiv, Pelosi said she had vowed to Zelenskyy, "We are with you until this fight is won."
She has promised quick House passage of the new $33 billion aid request for Ukraine that U.S. President Joe Biden sent to Congress last week.
Israel on Monday denounced statements by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who when asked by an Italian news channel about Russia's stated aim to "denazify" Ukraine when the country's president is Jewish, said, "Hitler also had Jewish origins, so it doesn't mean anything."
"Foreign Minister Lavrov's remarks are both an unforgivable and outrageous statement as well as a terrible historical error. Jews did not murder themselves in the Holocaust," Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid tweeted. "The lowest level of racism against Jews is to accuse Jews themselves of antisemitism."
Kuleba said Lavrov's comments are offensive to Zelenskyy, Ukraine, Israel and the Jewish people.
"More broadly, they demonstrate that today's Russia is full of hatred towards other nations," Kuleba tweeted.
VOA's Myroslava Gongadze, Jeff Seldin and Nike Ching contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Press and Reuters.