Ceasefire in Oleshky Arranged by US First Lady Melania Trump
A temporary ceasefire in the Russian-controlled Ukrainian city of Oleshky will begin Thursday to allow humanitarian aid and evacuations, following negotiations involving Melania Trump and Pope Francis.
The White House announced on Friday that a ceasefire in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Oleshky will start at 4 a.m. local time on Tuesday, enabling a humanitarian operation and a designated evacuation corridor. Russian forces chief of staff Valery Gerasimov confirmed the pause in hostilities on the Defence Ministry’s Telegram channel.
The agreement, described by a White House statement as a temporary halt to all military action, aims to bring aid into the city and allow residents to leave via a safe passageway. Ukraine’s chief negotiator David Arakhamia said the operation would commence once the ceasefire was in place and credited the long-running talks that involved Melania Trump and Pope Francis.
The Kremlin praised Melania Trump’s role and noted that President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had discussed details of the arrangement. The city, which has been under Russian control since February 2022, faces a severe food and medical crisis, with most of its pre-war population of about 24,000 reduced to roughly 1,700-2,000, primarily elderly residents.
Melania Trump said the ceasefire would permit non-military teams from both sides to visit homes, coordinate transport for evacuees, and that an unnamed American media organization would document the effort. She added that some residents would likely choose to go to Russia and others to Ukraine.
The humanitarian corridor follows earlier statements that 90% of Oleshky was flooded after the 2023 destruction of the Kakhovka Dam. The initiative is part of broader diplomatic pressure by President Donald Trump on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to negotiate an end to the war.