Pelosi to meet Ukrainian officials in Croatia

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is scheduled to meet with Ukrainian officials during a summit in Croatia this week that is focused on Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

The First Parliamentary Summit of the International Crimea Platform is slated to take place in Zagreb, Croatia, on Oct. 25. Pelosi will take part in bilateral meetings with high-level officials from Ukraine and Croatia, according to the Speaker’s office.

She is also scheduled to participate in a press conference with Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and will deliver remarks at the summit on Tuesday focused on “America’s unbreakable commitment to Ukraine.”

Ukraine created the International Crimea Platform last year with hopes that it would help repair the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, according to Pelosi’s office.

This week’s summit, the first of its kind, will be centered on Russia’s aggressive behavior against Ukraine, including Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the country’s invasion of Ukraine, which has been ongoing since February.

Conversations will center on the world’s attempts to assist Ukraine, efforts to hold Moscow accountable for suspected war crimes committed amid this year’s conflict and attempts at illegally annexing regions.

“As Speaker, it is my privilege to join our European allies and other partners from around the globe in Croatia to deliver an unmistakable statement of our solidarity with the Ukrainian people,” Pelosi said in a statement.

“Vladimir Putin is waging an unprovoked, all-out assault on Ukraine: from the ongoing occupation of Crimea to his attempt to annex additional territories to his desperate and escalating targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure. This week, America joins our democratic partners to reaffirm our pledge to stand with the Ukrainian people in their fight for freedom and to hold Russia accountable — until victory is won,” she added.

The Speaker will be joined by Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), the president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, on the trip to Croatia. He was invited to take part in the summit.

The gathering comes more than eight months into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Moscow’s military has taken control of some regions of the country, and Kyiv has launched successful counteroffensives in others.

Ukraine in recent weeks has been eyeing Kherson, the first major Ukrainian city that Russia took control of after the conflict broke out earlier this year.

In a rare joint statement on Sunday, the foreign ministers of France, the United Kingdom and the United States rejected Russia’s claims that Ukraine was getting ready to use a dirty bomb within its country.

“The world would see through any attempt to use this allegation as a pretext for escalation. We further reject any pretext for escalation by Russia,” the leaders wrote.

The visit to Croatia is the latest in a number of international trips Pelosi has taken in recent months. The Speaker has made stops in Ukraine, Taiwan and Armenia.