Melania Trump hosts Russian and Ukrainian officials for White House peace talks

UPI reported that the first lady hosted officials from Russia and Ukraine on Thursday, a meeting that followed a six-day localized ceasefire in and around Oleshky that she said she helped broker and came ahead of US-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi on 10-11 November.

Her office called the session "an extraordinary moment in American History" and said she independently initiated engagement between the two warring nations.

Ukraine's human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, and Russia's human rights commissioner, Yana Lantratova, were named by Ukrainian and Russian authorities as expected participants. Lubinets said on Wednesday that he was travelling to Washington for meetings.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Kirill Dmitriev, adviser for international economic cooperation, planned to meet the first lady "provided that all logistical arrangements work out," TASS reported. RFE/RL reported, citing sources, that Ukraine would also send David Arakhamia, head of Zelensky's parliamentary faction.

"Now, we must use the courage we brought to Oleshky to find common ground through a shared concern for the suffering of innocent people," she said. "Together, we can create something more enduring than a temporary cease-fire." She also called Oleshky "a spark in a world of darkness, capable of illuminating the best in humanity." She described herself as an "Exclusive Intermediary," a role she said was "memorialized in written agreements drafted and signed by both Russia and Ukraine." She said she was involved in "every stage of the planning" for the evacuation, reviewing demining plans, aerial images and evacuation routes.

Zelensky awarded her Ukraine's Order of Princess Olga, First Class, a day earlier, citing her "significant personal contribution to humanitarian support for Ukraine." Newsweek reported that Lantratova was sanctioned by the US government in 2022 and would require a special State Department waiver to enter the country legally.

The Oleshky ceasefire

RFE/RL reported that Melania Trump announced on 23 October she had helped secure the arrangement after raising the humanitarian situation in Oleshky with Russian and Ukrainian leadership. The pause began on 27 October and allowed roads to be demined and residents to leave. Her office put the number evacuated at nearly 800.

The nearly 800 evacuees are roughly 3% of Oleshky's prewar population of about 24,000. About 2,000 residents were thought to remain in Oleshky, Newsweek reported.

RFE/RL reported that Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said in September some residents had been forced to eat grass and weeds amid shortages of food and medicine. Lubinets said, according to Newsweek, that the exact figures would not be made public "under the terms of the prior agreement."

Limits of the truce

Peskov said on Monday that Russia had no plans for further humanitarian operations. "Each specific case is unique," he said. The Kremlin had said on 30 October that the Oleshky truce should not be extrapolated to the broader settlement. Ukraine accused Russian forces of using the pause to reinforce their positions in the area.

Eugene Goncharov, director of policy at the American Coalition for Ukraine, told RFE/RL that the truce showed Russia can agree to local pauses when it chooses to. "We don't have high expectations," he said. "The important thing to remember here is that Russia can at any point end this war and just chooses not to."

What happens next

Russia confirmed on 3 November that trilateral talks involving Moscow, Kyiv and Washington would take place in Abu Dhabi on 10-11 November, RFE/RL reported. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Vladimir Medinsky would lead Russia's delegation at the Abu Dhabi talks.