Melania Trump Brokers Local Ceasefire to Bring Aid Into Occupied Ukrainian City
Ukrainian, Russian and U.S. negotiators agreed Friday to a local ceasefire around the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky so humanitarian aid can be delivered and civilians evacuated. The deal was brokered by first lady Melania Trump, according to the White House and The Associated Press.
“Both nations agreed to temporarily stop all military action in Oleshky to allow for humanitarian aid to enter and to prepare a civilian evacuation through a designated safe passageway,” the White House said in a statement.
The White House said Trump learned of conditions in Oleshky during the U.N. General Assembly session in September and began contacting officials in both countries. Her office said she worked directly with Russian and Ukrainian leadership as the exclusive intermediary to define the terms of the ceasefire, using a channel built through her earlier work reuniting children separated by the war with their families.
“The situation in Oleshky is dire,” the first lady said in her own 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 said civilian leaders from both countries, not soldiers, will visit residents in their homes to determine what help they need, and that residents who wish to leave will be transported to their preferred destination. “I anticipate some will want to go to Russia, and some to Ukraine,” she said.
Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s ombudsman and its chief negotiator in the effort, told the AP the local ceasefire will begin Tuesday, two days before the humanitarian mission begins, and last several days, covering the Kherson region and neighboring areas the operation requires. He said the initiative could serve as a model for future humanitarian missions.
The announced start dates differ by source. Russia’s chief of the general staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, said Russian forces will cease fire on the Kherson axis starting at 4 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27, Moscow time, and Ukrainian officials put their halt at 3 a.m. Kyiv time the same day. The White House statement and the first lady’s statement date the start of the localized ceasefire to Thursday, Oct. 29.
The operation will unfold in stages. Mines will be cleared from the roads into Oleshky first, humanitarian supplies will follow, and civilians who want to leave will then be evacuated. “The operation will be carried out gradually and is extremely challenging to implement,” Lubinets said.
Russian officials confirmed the agreement. Gerasimov said Russian forces will ensure the humanitarian convoy’s safe movement into the city. Russia’s human rights ombudswoman, Yana Lantratova, also confirmed that the first lady had brokered the humanitarian mission. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was grateful to the first lady and credited her with a “significant contribution.” He would not say whether evacuees would be taken to Russian- or Ukrainian-held territory, or how long the evacuation would last.
Pope Leo XIV also pressed for the ceasefire. The Vatican said the pope called Russian President Vladimir Putin and expressed deep concern about the humanitarian situation in Oleshky, calling for a halt in fighting to allow food and medical assistance in and a voluntary, safe evacuation of civilians. Davyd Arakhamia, a Ukrainian negotiator, said the accord was the result of a long process involving both the first lady and the pope, according to Reuters.
Oleshky sits on the Dnipro River across from Ukrainian forces in Ukraine’s south. About 24,000 people lived there before the war. An estimated 1,700 to 2,000 remain, most of them elderly, including about 50 children, according to the White House. Russian forces captured the city on the first day of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, and floodwaters inundated it in June 2023 after the Kakhovka Dam collapsed in an explosion that an AP investigation found was likely caused by the Russian military.
The city now has little electricity and no heat or running water, and food and medical supplies have been scarce for months. Roads leading out are mined. With another winter approaching, residents who remain face hunger and disease.
Melania Trump has made children in conflict zones a signature issue of her husband’s second term. She wrote to Russian President Vladimir Putin last year about reuniting families separated by the war, and her office said those efforts have reunited 34 children. “What she wants to do is save children, and that’s her focus,” President Donald Trump told reporters. “They contacted both sides, and both sides wanted to do it. She’s done a great job.”
The agreement arrives as tensions between Washington and Kyiv have risen to new highs. Ukraine has faced restrictions on the satellite internet system it relies on to counter Russian attacks, and Washington recently waived new Russia sanctions and pressed Ukraine toward a settlement. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not mention the Oleshky ceasefire in a remote appearance at a Washington think tank on Friday, noting instead that American Patriot missile interceptors remain on hold. He said separately on Friday that negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the United States had agreed to technical-level meetings in the first half of November, and that he hoped a meeting of the countries’ leaders would follow, according to Reuters.
