WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 鈥淲e thought we could die.鈥
The Russian invasion had just begun when made a surprise visit to Ukraine, the House speaker then the highest-ranking elected U.S. official to lead a congressional delegation to Kyiv.
Pelosi and the lawmakers were ushered under the cloak of secrecy , an undisclosed passage that even to this day she will not divulge.
鈥淚t was very, it was dangerous,鈥 Pelosi told The Associated Press before Sunday鈥檚 one-year anniversary of that trip.
鈥淲e never feared about it, but we thought we could die because we鈥檙e visiting a serious, serious war zone,鈥 Pelosi said. 鈥淲e had great protection, but nonetheless, a war 鈥 theater of war.鈥
Pelosi's visit was as unusual as it was historic, opening a fresh diplomatic channel between the U.S. and Ukraine that has only deepened . In the year since, a long list of congressional leaders, senators and chairs of powerful committees, both Democrats and Republicans, followed her lead, punctuated by this year.
The steady stream of arrivals in Kyiv has served to amplify a political and military partnership between the U.S. and Ukraine for the world to see, one that will be tested anew when Congress is again expected this year to help fund the war to defeat Russia.
鈥淲e must win. We must bring this to a positive conclusion 鈥 for the people of Ukraine and for our country,鈥 Pelosi said.
鈥淭here is a fight in the world now between democracy and autocracy, its manifestation at the time is in Ukraine.鈥
With a new Republican majority in the House whose Trump-aligned members have balked at overseas investments, Pelosi, a Democrat, remains confident the Congress will continue backing Ukraine as part of a broader U.S. commitment to democracy abroad in the face of authoritarian aggression.
鈥淪upport for Ukraine has been bipartisan and bicameral, in both houses of Congress by both parties, and the American people support democracy in Ukraine,鈥 Pelosi told AP. 鈥淚 believe that we will continue to support as long as we need to support democracy ... as long as it takes to win."
Now the speaker emerita, an honorary title bestowed by Democrats, Pelosi is circumspect about her role as a U.S. emissary abroad. Having visited 87 countries during her time in office, many as the trailblazing first woman to be the House speaker, she set a new standard for as she focused attention on the world beyond U.S. shores.
In her office tucked away at the Capitol, Pelosi shared many of the honors and mementos she has received from abroad, including the honorary passport she was given on her trip to Ukraine, among her final stops as speaker.
It鈥檚 a signature political style, building on Pelosi鈥檚 decades of work on the House Intelligence Committee, but one that a new generation of House leaders may 鈥 or may not 鈥 chose to emulate.
The new Speaker Kevin McCarthy hosted Taiwan鈥檚 President Tsai Ing-wen at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library this month, the Republican leader鈥檚 first foray as leader into foreign affairs.
Democrat Hakeem Jeffries took his own first trip abroad as House minority leader, leading congressional delegations last week to Ghana and Israel.
Pelosi said it鈥檚 up to the new leaders what they will do on the global stage.
鈥淥ther speakers have understood our national security 鈥 we take an oath to protect and defend 鈥 and so we have to reach out with our values and our strength to make sure that happens,鈥 she said.
鈥淚 just want to say that this, for me, was the most logical thing to do,鈥 Pelosi said.
When Pelosi arrived in Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stood outside to meet the U.S. officials, a photo that ricocheted around the world as a show of support for the young democracy fighting Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion.
鈥淭he courage of the president in greeting us on the street rather than us just meeting him in his office was yet again another symbol of the courage of the people of Ukraine,鈥 she said.
Pelosi told Zelenskyy in a video released at the time 鈥測our fight is a fight for everyone.鈥
A year on, with no end to the war in sight, Pelosi said: 鈥淚 would have hoped that it would have been over by now.鈥
Pelosi鈥檚 travel abroad has not been without political challenges, and controversy. During the Trump era she acted as an alternative emissary overseas, reassuring allies that the U.S. remained a partner despite the Republican president鈥檚 鈥淎merica First鈥 neo-isolationist approach to foreign policy.
Last year, in one of her final trips as speaker, Pelosi , crowds lining the streets to cheer her arrival, a visit with the Taiwanese president that drew a sharp rebuke from Beijing, which counts the island as its own.
鈥淐owardly,鈥 she said about the military exercises China launched in the aftermath of her trip.
Pelosi offered rare praise for , particularly its bipartisan nature and the choice of venue, the historic Reagan library.
鈥淭hat was really quite a message and quite an optic to be there. And so I salute what he did,鈥 she said.
In one of her closing acts as House speaker in December, Pelosi hosted Zelenskyy for a joint address to Congress. The visit evoked the one made by Winston Churchill, the prime minister of Britain, at Christmastime in 1941 to speak to Congress in the Senate chamber of a 鈥渓ong and hard war鈥 during World War II.
Zelenskyy presented to Congress a Ukrainian flag signed by front-line troops that Pelosi said will eventually be displayed at the U.S. Capitol.
The world has changed much since Pelosi joined Congress 鈥 one of her first trips abroad was in 1991, shortly after the student demonstrations that ended in a massacre.
After the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it鈥檚 again Russia and China that remain front of her mind.
鈥淭he role of Putin in terms of Russia that is a bigger threat than it was when I came to Congress,鈥 she said. A decade after the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, she said, Putin went up.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 where the fight for democracy is taking place,鈥 she said.
And, she said, despite the work she and others in Congress have done to point out the concerns over China鈥檚 military and economic rise, and its human rights record, 鈥渢hat has only gotten worse.鈥
Often mentioned as someone who could become an actual ambassador 鈥 there have been musings that Biden could nominate her to Rome or beyond 鈥 Pelosi said she is focused on her two-year term in office, no longer the House speaker but the representative from San Francisco.
鈥淩ight now my plan is to serve my constituents,鈥 Pelosi said. 鈥淚 like having 750,000 bosses, rather than one.鈥
