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Melania Trump Claims Role in Oleshky Ceasefire
· Confirmed
In Short: Melania Trump claims she brokered a ceasefire in Oleshky, Ukraine, to allow humanitarian aid and civilian evacuation, but competing claims over the truce's origins have emerged.
On October 23, a brief ceasefire was announced in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Oleshky, according to Al Jazeera (Qatar) and the Independent (United Kingdom).
Al Jazeera reported that Pope Leo spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin on October 16, urging a ceasefire to facilitate humanitarian aid. However, the Independent noted that the White House stated Melania Trump had initiated discussions after an event at the UN General Assembly.
Al Jazeera (Qatar) and the Independent (United Kingdom) both reported that the ceasefire began on October 23, but the timing varied among other outlets. Al Jazeera said it started at 4 a.m. Moscow time (01:00 GMT), while the Independent stated it began two days earlier than initially planned.
According to Al Jazeera, the ceasefire is set to last until November 1, while the Independent reported it would begin next week. Both outlets agreed that the truce is not a comprehensive end to hostilities.
Al Jazeera (Qatar) and the Independent (United Kingdom) reported that the ceasefire was brokered by Melania Trump, but the Independent noted that Pope Leo had also called for a ceasefire.
Al Jazeera (Qatar) and the Independent (United Kingdom) both reported that the ceasefire would allow for humanitarian aid and civilian evacuation, with Al Jazeera specifying that residents could evacuate to either Russia or Ukraine.
Al Jazeera (Qatar) and the Independent (United Kingdom) agreed that the situation in Oleshky was dire, with limited electricity, mined roads, and regular military attacks.
Al Jazeera (Qatar) and the Independent (United Kingdom) both reported that the ceasefire was a localized agreement, with Al Jazeera noting that it might set a precedent for similar truces in the future.
Al Jazeera (Qatar) and the Independent (United Kingdom) both reported that the ceasefire was not a comprehensive end to hostilities, with Al Jazeera specifying that it would last until November 1.
Al Jazeera (Qatar) and the Independent (United Kingdom) both reported that the ceasefire was brokered by Melania Trump, but the Independent noted that Pope Leo had also called for a ceasefire.
Al Jazeera (Qatar) and the Independent (United Kingdom) both reported that the ceasefire would allow for humanitarian aid and civilian evacuation, with Al Jazeera specifying that residents could evacuate to either Russia or Ukraine.
Despite the competing claims, both Al Jazeera (Qatar) and the Independent (United Kingdom) agreed that the ceasefire was brokered to address the humanitarian crisis in Oleshky.
Background
Melania Trump says she helped broker a ceasefire in the Ukrainian city of Oleshky to allow for humanitarian aid and civilian evacuation.
President Trump held a rally in Kansas to boost Republican candidates ahead of the midterms.
What's confirmed
- “The people of Oleshky have limited electricity, live amid mined roads, and endure 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 said in a statement issued by the White House.
- In this undated image from video provided by the Ukrainian 34th Separate Marine Brigade "Borysfen" on Sept. 22, 2026, smoke rises from a residential neighborhood in the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky in the Kherson region of Ukraine. (Ukrainian 34th Separate Marine Brigade "Borysfen" via AP) Fresh strikes also hit a bridge and subway infrastructure in Ukraine's capital of Kyiv on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
- Tue, Oct 27, 2026 | Jumada al-Awwal 15, 1448 | Fajr 05:05 | DXB 31.5 °C US first lady Melania Trump has secured a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine in the Russian-controlled city of Oleshky, which will begin on October 29, the White House said on Friday.
- "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," Melania Trump said.
- In June 2023, floodwaters inundated the city after the Kakhovka Dam collapsed from an explosion that an Associated Press investigation found was likely caused by the Russian military.
- Melania Trump says she helped to broker a localised ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine in the war-ravaged Ukrainian city Oleshky to allow for humanitarian aid and the evacuation of civilians, according to the White House.
- The White House said Melania Trump had initiated discussions after learning about the situation during an event she held during the UN General Assembly session last month.
- Melania and her representative are said to have worked directly with both Russian and Ukrainian leadership in order to define the terms of the agreement.
- “As head of the Ukrainian negotiating team, I confirm that the Ukrainian side is honouring its commitments,” Dmytro Lubinets, the parliamentary commissioner for human rights, said in a Facebook post confirming Russia’s timing of its halt.
- The White House insists that United States’ First Lady Melania Trump mediated the ceasefire in Oleshky between Russia and Ukraine, after weeks of increasingly alarming reports from the town warning of a growing humanitarian crisis.
- Announcing the ceasefire on Friday, US First Lady Melania Trump said the situation in the town was “dire”, and it was on the “brink of disaster”.
- Russia and Ukraine have begun observing a localised ceasefire in a devastated southern Ukrainian city ahead of a planned humanitarian mission that the White House said was brokered by US first lady Melania Trump.
What's still developing
- On Telegram, Russia’s Ministry of Defence announced that it had stopped shelling in the direction of Ukraine’s city of Kherson from 4am Moscow time (01:00 GMT) on Tuesday, to prepare for the effort in Oleshky.
- A critical localised ceasefire in Ukraine that promises to help more than 1,000 civilians has set off an unlikely contest over who brokered the truce.
- Here’s what we know about the Oleshky ceasefire, and why the diverging versions of what led to the truce matter: Russia took the southern Ukrainian town of Oleshky in the Kherson region in the early days of the invasion in February 2022 and has retained control over it since.
- The pause in fighting in Oleshky started around 3 a.m. local time as "part of a humanitarian mission being carried out with the mediation and coordination of U.S. first lady Melania Trump, in cooperation with Yana Lantratova, Russia’s commissioner for human rights," according to Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian Parliament commissioner for human rights.
- Oleshky is about 340 miles southeast of Kyiv and across the Dnipro River from the city of Kherson, the region’s administrative capital, which Russian forces seized in the early stages of the 2022 invasion, though they later retreated across the river.
- Ukraine’s lead negotiator for the agreement is thanking Melania Trump for her involvement and says the deal would be “extremely challenging to implement.” A Russian general says Russian forces will cease fire on Tuesday.
- "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 heavily involved in humanitarian efforts in the Ukraine War, most notably working to reunite families separated from their children by the conflict.
- Once a city of about 24,000 residents, Oleshky was captured by Moscow’s forces on the first day of their full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
- Ben Finley, Associated Press Ben Finley, Associated Press Seung Min Kim, Associated Press Seung Min Kim, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Ukraine's top negotiator involved in a humanitarian mission led by U.S. first lady Melania Trump told The Associated Press that a local ceasefire with Russia will start Tuesday — two days before the mission begins — and last several days.
- The White House said the ceasefire in the ‘frontline war city on the brink of disaster’ will begin next week The White House said the ceasefire in the ‘frontline war city on the brink of disaster’ will begin next week Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later?
- In April, responding to Leo’s critiques, Trump said the pope was “weak on crime, weak on nuclear weapons”, and that he would not have been elected pope if Trump wasn’t president – claiming, without evidence, that his presidency had helped Leo into the position.