Melania Trump Claims Ceasefire in Occupied Oleshky, Ukraine and Russia Yet to Confirm
The White House says first lady Melania Trump secured a humanitarian ceasefire in the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky, set to begin Oct. 29, but neither Moscow nor Kyiv has confirmed the deal and its scope is limited to a single city.
The White House announced Friday that first lady Melania Trump had secured a humanitarian ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine limited to the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky in Ukraine's Kherson region, but neither government immediately confirmed the arrangement and its scope covers only a single city.
In a statement shared by the first lady on X, the White House said the truce would begin Oct. 29 to allow humanitarian aid into Oleshky and prepare the evacuation of civilians through a safe passageway. About 2,000 residents remain trapped in the town without enough food or medicine, according to reporting by the Kyiv Independent.
The statement described Melania Trump's role as «Exclusive Intermediary» and said she and an unnamed representative worked directly with «Russian and Ukrainian leadership» to set the terms. «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,» the first lady said in the statement.
The announcement follows a push by Pope Leo XIV for a truce in Oleshky. The pope called Russian President Vladimir Putin on Oct. 16 and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Oct. 19 to seek a humanitarian ceasefire there, the Kyiv Independent reported. After the Oct. 16 call, the Kremlin said Putin «supported the Vatican's intention» to help protect the town's residents and organize supplies, according to America Magazine.
Ukraine's human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, said Russia had considered all of Kyiv's earlier evacuation proposals and that negotiators were moving toward finalizing details. «We are now moving towards agreeing the final details on ensuring a ceasefire and evacuating everyone who wishes to leave, not just from Oleshky elsewhere, but directly to territory controlled by the Ukrainian government,» Lubinets said. «There are still some difficult issues, so to speak, but I hope that in the near future we will all see results from these negotiations,» he added.
During a meeting with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg this week, Putin asked him to thank the first lady for leading mediation on Oleshky, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters, according to the Russian state news agency TASS. It remains unclear what role the first lady has played in addressing the crisis, the Daily Beast reported.
The limited truce stands in contrast to the broader war diplomacy that has repeatedly stalled. President Donald Trump said as a candidate that he would end the war within 24 hours and in a September 2024 debate said he would settle it before taking office. «Well, I was being a little bit sarcastic when I said that,» Trump said in a March 2025 television interview, 54 days into his second term, according to the AP.
On Oct. 11, Trump posted that the two countries had agreed to an energy ceasefire, but Zelenskyy said the next day that Russia was still striking Ukraine's energy facilities. «In the Kremlin, both President Putin and officials at other levels have repeatedly stated we do not want a ceasefire,» Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that week.
Putin agreed Wednesday to resume three-way talks with the United States and Ukraine after Nov. 10, at Witkoff's request, CNN reported. Hours later, Russia launched a massive missile attack on Kyiv, CNN reported.
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