The Russian military fired missiles into eastern and southern Ukraine on Saturday, Ukrainian officials said, as women and children were evacuated from the Azovstal factory in the besieged port of Mariupol, where they had holed up for more than a week. Failing to have been able to seize kyiv, during an offensive which left behind it a field of ruins, killed thousands of people and forced five million Ukrainians to flee abroad, Russia is now concentrating over eastern and southern Ukraine. Russian forces captured the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson and on April 21 Moscow claimed victory at Mariupol although hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians took refuge in the steelworks from Azovstal. Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky announced on Sunday that he had met in kyiv with Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi. “We are visiting you to thank you for your fight for freedom (…). Your fight is a fight for all. Our commitment is to be there for you until the fight is over”, declared Nancy Pelosi in a video shared by the President of Ukraine on Twitter Сполучені Штати є лідером потужної підтримки України в боротьбі з агресіѤю в боротьбі з агресіѤю Р. Дякуємо, що допомагаєте захищати суверенітет і територіальну цілісність ж нашоеї! pic.twitter.com/QXSBPFoGQh— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) May 1, 2022 Angelina Jolie in Lviv with displaced civilians Angelina Jolie special envoy of the United Nations High Commission in Lviv this Saturday MAXPPP – Lviv Regional State Administration press service / HANDOUT American actress Angelina Jolie traveled to the Ukrainian city of Lviv on Saturday, where she spoke with civilians displaced by the war started on February 24 by Russia. The Hollywood star, 46, is a special envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which estimates that more than 12.7 million Ukrainians have been displaced by war, or about 30% of the population. Angelina Jolie notably went to the station of this city in western Ukraine where she collected testimonies from displaced persons and volunteers responsible for their care. Among them are psychiatrists who each see “in consultation” about fifteen people a day. Most of the civilians gathered at the station are children between the ages of two and ten, volunteers said. “We pull civilians out of the rubble with ropes” “They must be in shock. I know how trauma can affect children, and I know what comfort can be given to them by those who show them how much they matter”, said Angelina Jolie, who posed for photos with children and volunteers. The United Nations urged an evacuation agreement. A Ukrainian soldier inside the factory announced that about 20 women and children had been able to get out. “We pull the civilians out of the rubble with ropes – the older ones, the women, the children,” Sviatoslav Palamar said. The soldier said that Russia and Ukraine were respecting a local ceasefire and that he hoped that civilians who had been able to be evacuated could go to Zaporizhia in the northwest. Neither Russia nor the United Nations has commented on the evacuations. Hundreds of Ukrainians are still at the steel plant, Ukrainian officials said. Odessa targeted by missile fire A Russian missile fired from Crimea hit the runway of Odessa airport, which is now impassable, Odessa Governor Maksim Marchenko said, adding that no injuries were reported. deplore. The Ukrainian army announced that the airport could no longer be used. Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky pledged to rebuild the airport, saying in his daily address that “Odessa (will) never forget Russia’s behavior towards it.” Moscow did not comment on the strike. Moscow’s assault in the south is partly aimed at linking the region with Crimea, annexed in 2014, as it seeks to take over the whole of Donbass, made up of the provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk already partly controlled by pro-Russian separatists. Volodimir Zelensky said in his speech that Russia was “gathering additional forces to carry out new attacks against our army in the east of the country”, and that it was “trying to increase the pressure on Donbass”. Moscow calls the war launched on February 24 a “special military operation” to disarm and “denazify” Ukraine, defend Russian-speakers from persecution and prevent the United States from using the country to threaten Russia. Ukraine accuses Russian soldiers of carrying out atrocities in the kyiv region earlier this month, which Moscow denies. Peace talks were continuing between the two parties, with no progress at this stage. “Everything is destroyed” The United States and its European allies have imposed sanctions on Russia, and provided arms and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. US President Joe Biden has asked Congress to approve a $33 billion (31.3 billion euros) aid package for Ukraine, including $20 billion in military aid. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Saturday that his country would continue “to give Ukrainians the equipment they need to defend themselves”. In Dobropillia, a mining town in Donetsk province, the shock wave of a Russian strike shattered the windows of an apartment building and left a large crater in the courtyard. Andriy, a resident who declined to give his surname, told Reuters his partner, who was in a room across from the courtyard at the time of the shock, had lost consciousness. “Thank God the four children were in the kitchen,” he said. Their living room was destroyed. The occupants of the building were trying to salvage what could be salvaged from the rubble. Strikes in Russia “Around 09:20, this happiness happened to us. Everything was destroyed”, testifies Oleh in a sarcastic tone. Russia has reported Ukrainian strikes on its territory. Authorities in Bryansk, a region bordering Ukraine and Belarus, said anti-aircraft defense foiled an attack by Ukrainian aircraft. A Russian oil terminal was hit in the fighting. In the Kursk region, south of Bryansk, shells were fired from Ukrainian soil towards a Russian checkpoint, said Governor Roman Starovoit, who reported no injuries or material damage. Ukraine did not claim responsibility for the strikes but called a series of explosions in southern Russia on Wednesday a revenge and “karma” accumulated by Moscow since the start of the invasion.