After more than a year of efforts by US President Donald Trump to negotiate a truce between Russia and Ukraine, First Lady Melania Trump announced on Friday (local time) that she had brokered a ceasefire between the two countries, which have been at war since February 2022.
The localised ceasefire, set to begin next week in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Oleshky, aims to allow humanitarian aid deliveries and the evacuation of civilians from a place she said is “on the brink of disaster.”
Oleshky: A war-torn city awaiting humanitarian relief
A truce deal was agreed upon on Friday by Ukrainian, Russian, and US negotiators to provide humanitarian relief in the Russian-occupied, war-torn town of Oleshky, situated in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine.
Oleshky lies across the Dnipro River from the larger city of Kherson, which Russian troops seized in early 2022 before withdrawing later that year. Russian forces based in Oleshky attack Kherson across the river, while Ukrainian troops fire towards Oleshky from Kherson. Residents face some of the harshest conditions in Ukraine, with constant drone activity, widespread mines, and damaged infrastructure severely restricting both escape routes and access for humanitarian assistance, the New York Times reported.
Previously, Ukrainians escaping Oleshky have travelled further into Russian-occupied territory before passing through Russia and Belarus to reach Ukrainian-controlled areas. The route for the planned evacuations remained unclear.
Details of Melania-brokered ceasefire
Announcing her involvement, the White House said that Melania, who had worked with officials from both countries on a different matter, initiated talks regarding Oleshky after learning about the situation in the war-torn town at one of her events during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session in September. The White House added that the First Lady, along with a representative, worked directly with the leaders of the two countries to define the terms of the truce.
According to The New York Times, Melania said in a statement, “It was abundantly clear that without my intervention, the possibility to bring humanitarian aid into the city and to evacuate the elderly would be impossible.” She added that the localised ceasefire would begin on Thursday.
In a statement, Melania also announced that she would send “an impartial American media organization to accompany and document Russian and Ukrainian teams on the ground.” The network is Newsmax, NYT reported. For over a year, Melania has reportedly made direct appeals to Russian President Vladimir Putin to ensure that dozens of Ukrainian and Russian children separated from their families after Putin launched a full-scale invasion are reunited with them.
Speaking with Newsmax, Marc Beckman, Melania’s adviser, said the First Lady has a “direct line” to the Ukrainian and Russian leadership. Beckman noted, “Both sides formally recognized her as an intermediary in writing, and they gave her the power to negotiate this cease-fire,” and added, “And she’s been working tirelessly now for over a month to make sure that this occurs.”
Russia and Ukraine confirm the ceasefire
The ceasefire announcement was confirmed by both sides. According to AP, Kyiv’s top negotiator said the local ceasefire with Moscow would begin on 27 October (Tuesday), two days before the mission begins, and was expected to last several days.
Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, who led his country’s negotiations, said the ceasefire would cover the Kherson region and nearby areas needed to carry out the operation. He said the arrangement could serve as a template for future humanitarian efforts.
In a video message posted online earlier on Friday, Lubinets thanked Melania, adding that the deal would be difficult to implement. He noted that the agreement calls for a ceasefire, followed by the delivery of much-needed humanitarian aid. “The operation will be carried out gradually and is extremely challenging to implement,” he said.
Russia’s chief of the general staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, said Russian troops “will cease fire on the Kherson axis” starting at 4 am on Tuesday in Moscow, or late Monday in the United States, “in connection with the humanitarian operation near Oleshky.” He added that the troops would also carry out “engineering reconnaissance” and ensure the “safe movement of the humanitarian convoy” into the city.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was grateful to Melania, adding that Putin and the US President had recently discussed the effort.
The ceasefire comes at a time when tensions between Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, have been mounting, with the US President launching scathing attacks on the latter. Separately, Trump also softened his stance towards Putin and Russia during the same period, including by waiving key sanctions under the Graham Act and reaching an agreement for Moscow to supply diesel to the United States as midterm elections loom. Earlier this week, reports suggested that Putin had also proposed a meeting with Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the APEC Summit, and Trump expressed his willingness to attend.
However, it remains to be seen whether the two sides will honour the ceasefire and allow the humanitarian operation to proceed safely.
