US First Lady Melania Trump announced Friday, Oct. 23, that she had brokered a localized ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine in the devastated city of Oleshky, where nearly 2,000 civilians remain trapped under Russian occupation amid severe shortages of food, medicine and clean water.
The temporary ceasefire, scheduled to begin Oct. 29 according to an official White House statement, is intended to allow humanitarian aid deliveries and evacuations through a designated safe corridor.
JOIN US ON TELEGRAM
Follow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.
Both countries agreed to temporarily suspend military operations in Oleshky, the statement said, with the first lady and her representative working with Ukrainian and Russian leaders to negotiate the agreement’s timing, technical procedures and implementation.
“The situation in Oleshky is dire. Oleshky is a front-line war city on the brink of disaster,” Melania Trump said.
She warned that the city’s remaining residents, primarily elderly people, urgently need medical attention, medicine, food and clean water. Many have limited electricity, live amid mined roads and face regular military attacks.
“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,” she added.
Ukraine confirms agreement to evacuate civilians
Ukrainian officials confirmed preparations for the humanitarian operation, saying it would establish safe evacuation routes and allow urgently needed supplies into the Russian-occupied city.
Other Topics of Interest
Zelensky Says Starlink Caps Persist as Kyiv Eyes November Talks With Russia, US
President Volodymyr Zelensky also said that agreed deliveries of Patriot interceptors, used against Russian ballistic missiles, remain delayed.
Davyd Arakhamia, head of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Servant of the People parliamentary faction, said an operation to unblock Oleshky and surrounding communities would begin soon.
Its objective is to establish permanent humanitarian corridors for civilians and aid deliveries, he said, thanking Melania Trump and Pope Leo XIV for their involvement.
Ukraine’s Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets, who led the Ukrainian negotiating team, also confirmed the agreement.
Lubinets outlined three priorities: securing a ceasefire, delivering humanitarian supplies and ensuring civilians can leave Oleshky safely.
He described the mission as extremely complex and said implementation would proceed in stages.
The ombudsman thanked the first lady and her team for coordinating the Ukrainian and Russian negotiating groups.
Residents can choose evacuation to Ukraine or Russia
The Kremlin welcomed Melania Trump’s humanitarian involvement, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov praising her contribution to the agreement, according to AFP.
According to the White House, Melania Trump served as an “Exclusive Intermediary,” helping negotiate the ceasefire’s objectives, procedures and conditions.
Civilian representatives from Ukraine and Russia are expected to visit Oleshky residents in their homes to assess their humanitarian needs.
“Residents who wish to evacuate will receive coordinated support and transportation to their preferred destination. I anticipate some will want to go to Russia, and some to Ukraine,” she said.
The agreement also involves preparations for demining, a critical requirement for transporting aid and evacuating civilians along roads contaminated by explosives.
Melania Trump said she had arranged for an independent American media organization to accompany the humanitarian teams and document their work to help ensure residents’ choices were respected.
Melania Trump builds on efforts to reunite Ukrainian children
Melania Trump said the initiative began after she learned about conditions in Oleshky during a private discussion at her Fostering the Future Together event in New York City, held during the 81st United Nations General Assembly.
She said her team immediately used communication channels established with Russia and Ukraine during six previous operations that reunited 34 children separated from their families during the war.
Both governments subsequently assigned teams to coordinate the humanitarian mission, including demining and arrangements for safe passage.
President Donald Trump praised his wife’s involvement, describing the ceasefire as her initiative.
“What she wants to do is save children,” Trump told reporters.
Asked whether she could participate in upcoming trilateral negotiations involving Ukraine, Russia and the US, Trump replied: “No, but it’s not the worst idea I’ve ever heard.”
Oleshky is located in southern Ukraine, across the Dnipro River from Kherson. Before Russia’s full-scale invasion, the city had approximately 24,000 residents. Today, an estimated 1,700 to 2,000 people remain, primarily elderly residents unable to evacuate, along with approximately 50 children, according to the White House statement.
Sevinj Osmanqizi is an experienced journalist who writes extensively for Kyiv Post on foreign policy, international security and geopolitics. Based in Washington, D.C., her work focuses on Ukraine, Russia’s war and the broader post-Soviet space.