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By Tom Sanders
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First lady Melania Trump will host Russian and Ukrainian representatives at the White House this week after helping to broker a ceasefire in Ukraine’s war-torn Oleshky region.
The meeting, described by the White House as “an extraordinary moment in American History,” will be the first time officials from the two warring nations will have met since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
“Mrs. Trump independently initiated engagement between the two warring nations and successfully secured a ceasefire in Oleshky and the surrounding Kherson region,” the White House wrote. “This achievement marks an unprecedented diplomatic initiative by an American First Lady.”
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The six-day pause in fighting—from October 27 through November 1—was engineered to allow much-needed aid to enter Oleshky, a Russian-occupied settlement in the southern Kherson region of Ukraine, and to allow residents the opportunity to evacuate. It was the longest pause in hostilities since the invasion.
According to the White House, the first lady played a key role in enabling the ceasefire, acting as a mediator between Ukrainian human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets and his Russian counterpart, human rights commissioner Yana Lantratova.
Lubinets and Lantratova are expected to be at the White House on Thursday, a Ukrainian official told the Kyiv Independent. However, Lantratova was sanctioned by the U.S. government in 2022, meaning she will require a special waiver from the State Department to legally enter the country.
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Neither Kyiv nor Moscow has publicly commented on which representatives will attend the meeting. Newsweek has contacted the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministries and the White House for comment.
“The mission was a success, delivering critical aid to the region and enabling the evacuation of nearly 800 people,” the first lady wrote in a statement on X on Monday. Around 50 children and around 100 pets were also thought to be evacuated from the besieged city.
“On behalf of America, I commend Russia and Ukraine for their leadership and cooperation surrounding the Oleshky ceasefire. I hope Oleshky serves as a foundation for lasting peace between both nations.”
Neither Russia nor Ukraine has officially disclosed the exact number of evacuees, with Lubinets saying that the exact figures would not be made public "under the terms of the prior agreement."
“I really don't want this to turn into a competition over 'who has fled to which country in greater numbers.' That doesn't promote objectivity,” Lubinets said during a press conference on Monday. “You've seen some news reports from non-Ukrainian journalists. I think you can draw your own conclusions without the release of official figures.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would welcome any further ceasefires and was open to working with Melania Trump again to secure them.
"If the first lady can do it, can continue, it's very helpful," Zelensky told Fox News on Monday. “I’m very thankful to her.”
His words were echoed by Lubinets, who said in a statement posted on Telegram that he was currently working with Lantratova to “continue such humanitarian steps."
Moscow, however, was quick to shut down the initiative, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov saying on Monday that Russia had no plans for future humanitarian operations.
“As for continuing this practice, each specific case is unique," he said during a news conference. "There are no similar plans at this time, nor are there any similar initiatives.”
Prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Oleshky had a population of around 24,000, although only around 2,000 residents are still thought to remain. The city, which has been occupied by Russia since 2022, is close to the Dnipro River and the regional capital of Kherson, which has since been liberated by Ukraine.
The city’s remaining population, many of whom are elderly, have been trapped without access to food, water, electricity and medicine for months, according to reports from international aid groups. A BBC report said that some residents had been forced to cook garden weeds to survive.
Those evacuated were forced to make a convoluted journey back into Ukrainian territory, which involved being transported from Oleshky to the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula in the South. From there, evacuees were taken to the Russian town of Anapa, before being flown north into Belarus, where they were allowed to re-enter Ukraine through the country’s northern border.
Kyiv officials initially feared that evacuees would not be permitted to re-enter Ukraine once they were transported into Russia, although both sides later reported that the ceasefire had been upheld. Vladimir Saldo, a Russian-installed official in southern Ukraine, later told state media that an undisclosed number of evacuees opted to stay in Russia.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Matthew Robinson and Dave Siminoff.
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