Melania Trump ‘Brokers’ Oleshky Ceasefire – But The White House And Russia Give Different Start Dates

The White House said Friday that First Lady Melania Trump brokered a localized ceasefire in Oleshky, a Russian-occupied city in Ukraine’s Kherson region, to let aid in and civilians out. The White House says it starts October 29, but Gen. Valery Gerasimov said Russian forces would stop firing October 27.

In its statement, the White House said “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.” Melania Trump called Oleshky “a front-line war city on the brink of disaster” and said she anticipates “some will want to go to Russia, and some to Ukraine.” Civilian leaders from both countries are to visit residents in their homes, and an “impartial American media organization” will document the work. Reuters reported that Newsmax said its cameras would get “exclusive access to document the effort.”

Moscow’s account is looser. Gerasimov said fire would cease on the Kherson axis at 4 a.m. Moscow time on Tuesday, and that Russia would first carry out “engineering reconnaissance” and secure a humanitarian convoy’s route into the city, AP reported. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the sides were still working out a ceasefire so residents could leave, according to the Kyiv Independent. Peskov did not say whether evacuees would go to Russian- or Ukrainian-held territory, and said the evacuation would likely take several days.

The talks themselves ran through human rights officials. Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s ombudsman, said he led negotiations for Ukraine and that Russia’s rights commissioner, Yana Lantratova, led them for Russia. Lubinets said the operation would be gradual and “extremely challenging to implement.” The White House release casts Melania Trump as “Exclusive Intermediary” who “initiated discussions with both nations,” but what she did in the room is not spelled out. The Daily Beast noted this week that her role in the Oleshky crisis was unclear. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters Putin asked envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg to pass on his “gratitude,” and Peskov said the matter came up in a recent Putin-Trump call.

Oleshky sits on the Dnipro across from Kherson. About 24,000 people lived there before the war; the White House puts the remaining population at 1,700 to 2,000, mostly elderly, with about 50 children. AP described a city with no electricity, heat or running water, scarce food and medicine for months, and mined roads out. The Kyiv Independent adds that the roads would need demining before buses could reach it. Russian forces took the city on the first day of the 2022 invasion, and the June 2023 Kakhovka Dam collapse, which an AP investigation found was likely caused by the Russian military, flooded it and killed hundreds.

Pressure had been building for weeks. The Kyiv Independent says the blockade drew appeals from Pope Leo XIV, and Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia thanked both the pope and Melania Trump. Ukraine has repeatedly asked for a local ceasefire to organize evacuations; as the occupying power, Russia is obligated under international law to see that civilians under its control have what they need to survive, AP noted.

Local truces in this war have often been poorly implemented, the Kyiv Independent notes, and the last one Washington announced is a warning. When Trump declared an energy ceasefire on Truth Social earlier this month, Zelensky said it was “news to me.” Zelensky said Russia hit at least six energy targets overnight after the announcement, and Trump then said both sides had violated the deal and that they agreed “because I said: ‘you agree.'”

The announcement lands amid strain between Washington and Kyiv. Trump recently waived new Russian sanctions and agreed with Russia to import diesel, AP reported, while Kyiv faces restrictions on its use of Starshield satellite internet. Zelensky, speaking at the Hudson Institute, did not mention Oleshky; he said U.S. Patriot interceptors were still on hold. Witkoff met Zelensky in Oslo before traveling to see Putin.

Melania Trump has made children caught in the war her signature issue. Last October she said she and Putin had an open channel of communication on the subject, after the president hand-delivered her letter to Putin in Alaska. Her top aide, Marc Beckman, has claimed she facilitated the reunification of 34 children with their parents, the Daily Beast reported.

Skeptics are not waiting for the paperwork. Stefan Vorontsov, a volunteer coordinator at the NGO Humanity, told the Kyiv Independent he worried about “provocations, blackmail, a route through the Russian Federation.” “I have little faith,” he said. Russia’s October 27 date arrives Tuesday; the White House’s is two days after that.

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