Melania Trump Ceasefire: Russia and Ukraine Agree to Halt Fighting in Oleshky on October 29
The White House said Friday that First Lady Melania Trump secured a localized ceasefire in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Oleshky, to begin October 29, to allow humanitarian aid in and civilians out.
WASHINGTON — First Lady Melania Trump has secured a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine in the city of Oleshky, which will begin on October 29, the White House said on Friday, according to Reuters.
The pause is a humanitarian one. Russia and Ukraine agreed to halt military operations around Oleshky beginning October 29 to secure humanitarian aid and help evacuate civilians, the White House announced October 23, USA Today reported. The town, occupied by Russia since the beginning of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, sits on the front lines of the war and has been largely cut off from food and electricity. Roughly 1,700 people are estimated to still be living there, down from a pre-war population of roughly 24,000, according to the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine as reported by USA Today, and many of the current residents are elderly.
“The situation in Oleshky is dire,” the first lady said in a statement carried by USA Today. “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 has been working since last year to reunite Ukrainian children who were taken from their families and relocated to Russia, and President Donald Trump told reporters the pause came about as a result of that work, USA Today reported. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed the ceasefire agreement to allow the evacuation of civilians and said military personnel are still coordinating the exact timing, according to comments published by Russian state media and reported by USA Today.
The agreement, as announced, is local and time-limited — a halt around one front-line city for aid deliveries and an evacuation corridor, not a wider settlement of the war. Civilian leaders from both countries are to visit residents to assess what assistance they need, with residents who wish to evacuate receiving coordinated support and transportation to their preferred destination, according to the first lady's statement as reported by The Times.
