helmet. that is perfect. are you can also order one of my coanchors a books on amazon that is captioning sponsored by cbs duncan: tonight a show of support. speaker nancy pelosi meets ukraine s president zelenskyy in the streets of kyiv. our commitment is to be there for you until the fight is done. duncan: her surprise visit a secret until today. battered mariupol, new evacuations at a beseiged steel plant. i m charlie dagata in eastern ukraine where intense fighting continues but the evacuation of mariupol is under way. duncan: also tonight the political fight on capitol hill over billions in you funding for over billions in new funding for ukraine. i m at the white house, where the pressure is on to get the assistance package package passed. the president s biggest ask for ukraine to date. these kamikaze drones are
country, observing the orthodox christian day of the dead. but there were some glimmers of hope for some civilians sheltered at a steel plant in mariupol. cbs charlie d agata has more tonight. reporter: good evening, we got confirmation today in a president zelenskyy tweet that the evacuation of civilians at the steel works plant had begun. he said do far around a hundred people had been evacuated. they are working on the evacuation of many more in the coming days. the first few residents to escape from beneath the steel plant of mariupol described the hell they endured for weeks. ( translated ): when the shells started landing i thought my heart would stop. and i would not survive. reporter: they re now headed to the relative safety of ukrainian held territory. even though the u.n. said it had brokered a deal with the russians and red cross, the first successful evacuation after so many failed attempts still came as something of a surprise.
just an indication of the onslaught facing soldiers and civilian as long the front line. civilian along the front line. exhausted front line soldiers return to base after weeks of fighting in the donbas region, well aware there is more to come. the first sunday after orthodox easter here, is like a memorial day to honor fallen soldiers of the past. but with the war raging on and the death toll climbing, the path is all too present. duncan: charlie d agata joins me from eastern ukraine. what can those civilians expect who have now arrived to safety. reporter: the evacuees are headed to zaporizhzhia, the biggest ukrainian held city in that area. around 140 miles northwest of mariupol, there they will receive humanitarian support including psychological services. we visited an aid center, a shopping mall there just this week. the aid workers told us those
coming up from mariupol were suffering terribly. hundreds more remain trapped. jericka. duncan: charlie d agata and our cbs news crew, as always, thank you for your reporting. this week congress faces new pressure to approve president biden s latest request for billions more in ukraine war aid. cbs natalie brand is at the white house, good evening to you, a major event, really for the speaker to visit there, another sign of support. reporter: that is right, jericka, speaker pelosi and members who traveled with her are now in poland. we ve learned they had a phone call today with president biden and relayed what they heard in ukraine about the need for weapons and intelligence. we stand with ukraine until victory is won. reporter: speaker pelosi and other top democrats say they left ukraine with a better understanding of the needs on the ground. their visit which was kept secret comes as congress is now crafting legislation for