Melania Trump-Negotiated Ceasefire Holds in Russian-Occupied Ukrainian City
Melania Trump-Negotiated Ceasefire Holds in Russian-Occupied Ukrainian City

A temporary ceasefire in Oleshky, a front-line Ukrainian city that Melania Trump described as being on the “brink of disaster,” took effect Tuesday.

The pause began at about 3 a.m. local time as part of a humanitarian operation mediated and coordinated by U.S. first lady Melania Trump in cooperation with Yana Lantratova, Russia’s commissioner for human rights, according to Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s parliamentary commissioner for human rights.

“The situation in Oleshky is dire. Oleshky is a front-line war city on the brink of disaster,” Trump said in a statement last week. “The city’s remaining residents are primarily elderly people who urgently need medical care, medicine, food and clean water.

“Oleshky has limited electricity, mined roads and recurring military attacks. It was abundantly clear that, without my intervention, bringing humanitarian aid into the city and evacuating elderly residents would be impossible,” she added.

First Lady Melania Trump and civilians evacuating the Ukrainian city of Oleshky

First lady Melania Trump, left, and civilians being evacuated from Oleshky, Ukraine, in October 2022 during the early days of the Russia-Ukraine war. (Umit Bektas/Reuters; Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)

The White House said Ukraine and Russia had “agreed to temporarily stop all military action in Oleshky to allow humanitarian aid to enter and to prepare a civilian evacuation through a designated safe passageway.”

“Non-military civilian leaders from both countries will work together to visit residents in their homes and assess the assistance they need. Those who wish to leave will receive coordinated support and transportation to their preferred destination. I anticipate that some will choose Russia, while others will choose Ukraine,” Trump said.

Appearing on “Fox & Friends Weekend,” senior adviser Marc Beckman said the agreement emerged after weeks of mediation involving Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed the pause Tuesday in a Telegram post, stating that its armed forces had stopped fire in the Kherson direction “in relation to the conduct of the humanitarian operation” near Oleshky.

Russian forces have controlled Oleshky since the early days of Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported.

The city had approximately 24,000 residents before the war, but its population has since fallen to just a few thousand, according to the news agency.

Smoke rises from a residential neighborhood in Oleshky.

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)

Meanwhile, new strikes hit a bridge and subway infrastructure in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

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