september but what s the time line on passing this? reporter: well, jericka, the house is not in session in d.c. this coming week. so we know that democratic leaders are trying to get this doe as quickly as possible, this month ahead of the memorial day recess. but again, the exact time line remains to be seen. we also know that president we also know that president biden will be traveling to alabama on tuesday to visit a lockheed martin facilities that manufactures javelin antitank missile, one of the key weapons systems the u.s. has been providing to ukraine,. duncan: thank you, covid-19 cases are rising once again with limited impact though. more than half a dozen states have seen reports of new infections double in the past two weeks. hospitalizations are up 15 percent in the same period. but vaccines have met far fewer severe cases, today in china the country s latest outbreak
president biden s $33 billion funding request for ukraine, money for economic, humanitarian and defense aid. reporter: that $33 billion is significantly less than what we would have to spend if we took russia on directly. so, i hope we don t have any impediments to that all that we can do to help the ukrainians fight for themselves and achieve their freedom is critical because what we don t want is putin ultimately to think that not only can he win in ukraine but advance beyond it. reporter: while there is bipartisan support behind this latest round of urgent assistance, the question remains how quickly it can get passed, especially if it s linked to the president s request for additional coronavirus funding which has stalled in a clash over immigration policy. we need covid aid, we need ukraine aid, we should do them together or separately but we shouldn t wait around. and we will do all of it, whether we do it together which is my preference, we ll see. but it will not bog do
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