First lady Melania Trump brought Ukrainian and Russian delegations together in Washington following a six-day localized ceasefire in Oleshky.
First lady Melania Trump hosted delegations from Russia and Ukraine at the White House on Thursday, calling for a broader peace after brokering a localized six-day ceasefire in the southern Ukrainian town of Oleshky.
The meeting brought representatives from the two warring countries face-to-face in Washington, BBC News reported. The Ukrainian delegation included human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets and Davyd Arakhamia, the leader of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s party in parliament. Russia was represented by presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev and human rights commissioner Yana Lantratova.
Addressing the gathering, the first lady urged both sides to build on the temporary humanitarian pause in Kherson. “Undeniably, the lives of innocent people must transcend the division of war. I hope Oleshky inspires greater peace,” she said.
Before the gathering, an aid convoy entered Oleshky as evacuations began under the temporary truce, which allowed emergency supplies into the besieged city and helped civilians escape.
What happened during the truce
The localized ceasefire ran from Oct. 27 to Nov. 1, pausing combat around Oleshky on the Dnipro River to let humanitarian aid enter and civilians leave. Nearly 800 people evacuated the Russian-occupied town, PBS NewsHour reported. An estimated 2,000 residents remained in the city when the pause started, facing harsh winter conditions without running water, electricity or heat.
Melania Trump said she initiated discussions with officials from both nations after attending an event on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in September. Working with her adviser Marc Beckman, she engaged directly with Ukrainian and Russian leadership. During the pause, she reviewed demining plans, road assessments and aerial images to coordinate medical resources and evacuation routes.
Arakhamia praised the outcome at Thursday’s event, calling the Oleshky truce the largest de-escalation between the two nations since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. Dmitriev conveyed thanks from Russian President Vladimir Putin and presented the first lady with a drawing made by an 11-year-old girl who evacuated Oleshky. Ukraine awarded her the Order of Princess Olga, 1st class, on Wednesday to recognize her humanitarian efforts, NBC News reported.
At the close of the event, the first lady gave Dmitriev and Arakhamia letters to deliver to Putin and Zelenskyy. She also showed the delegations two historic artifacts: an 18th-century medicine chest saved from the White House fire in 1812 and an 1899 presentation cup linked to the end of the Spanish-American War.
Diplomatic friction and reactions
While Melania Trump held the joint event, President Donald Trump met separately in the Oval Office with Dmitriev. Donald Trump said he didn’t meet with the Ukrainian envoys who were at the White House. He declined to share details about his talk with Dmitriev, telling reporters that an agreement is in the works that could involve all of Europe.
Speaking in Spain on Friday, Zelenskyy said the truce demonstrated that fighting stops when Putin chooses to halt it, Fox News noted. A local Kherson government official told the BBC that groundwork for the Oleshky evacuation had been underway for nearly a year before external individuals stepped in and took credit, adding that staff who worked on talks for months were later barred from speaking publicly.
While Oleshky saw fighting pause for six days, Russian strikes continued elsewhere across Ukraine. Earlier in the week, an attack on an aid distribution facility in Zaporizhzhia killed more than 40 people.
What happens next
The White House gathering took place ahead of planned talks between Ukrainian and Russian teams in Abu Dhabi. Those renewed discussions, led by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, have faced hurdles over territorial control in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, where Ukrainian forces still hold key strongholds.
Zelenskyy has expressed hope that team-level negotiations in the United Arab Emirates could clear a path for talks at the leaders’ level. Meanwhile, political dynamics in Washington shifted this week after Democrats won control of Congress in the midterm elections, adding fresh questions about future U.S. foreign policy.
