Melania Trump urges lasting Ukraine truce at White House with Russian and Ukrainian officials

US First Lady Melania Trump used a White House meeting with Russian and Ukrainian officials to call for a more enduring ceasefire in Ukraine, after a six-day truce last week allowed civilians to leave the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky in the southern Kherson region.

Moscow and Kyiv credited Trump with brokering the truce. Hundreds of residents of Oleshky, who had faced starvation and constant bombardment, were able to evacuate during the six-day ceasefire, the BBC reported.

Unusual White House meeting

The event brought together Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets and his Russian counterpart Yana Lantratova, as well as Ukrainian MP Davyd Arakhamia and Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev. It was separate from official US-brokered peace talks that have been held without success since last year.

Melania Trump was credited by all sides with playing a key but unspecified role in the ceasefire, and participants conveyed gratitude from the Russian and Ukrainian presidents. She said she had reviewed demining plans, aerial images, roadways, evacuation routes, hospital access, vehicles and medical resources during the truce.

“The lives of innocent people must transcend the division of war. I hope Oleshky inspires greater peace,” she said. “Last week in Oleshky and neighbouring areas of Kherson, people experienced the simple joys of life for the first time since 2022,” she added. “They walked down familiar streets without fear of explosions.” She thanked Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin, making no reference to the war's origins: Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which has caused thousands of civilian casualties and displaced millions.

Gratitude and a gift

Dmitriev thanked Trump for “saving and touching so many lives” and said: “Let us continue making a humanitarian contribution together; this is within our power.” He gave her a framed drawing by an 11-year-old Oleshky evacuee and praised her work on reuniting children separated from their families, including children allegedly abducted by Russia.

Arakhamia called the Oleshky ceasefire the “biggest de-escalation since 2022” and said both sides were learning the “mechanics of how to actually keep the peace when the peace comes.” He said the political track was “complex” but Ukrainians wanted Melania Trump to “keep going and find new missions and de-escalate more.”

At the end, she handed Dmitriev and Arakhamia two letters to hand-deliver to their presidents. The White House said she invited guests to view two historic artifacts she had personally selected as symbols of peace: an 18th Century medicine chest removed from the White House when the British set it on fire in 1812, and a cup given in 1899 to the French ambassador for his efforts to end the Spanish-American war.

Scepticism and continuing attacks

Melania Trump has generally remained discreet on foreign policy, and neither Moscow nor Kyiv have detailed her involvement. A source in the Kherson region's local government told the BBC that work on the Oleshky evacuation had been ongoing for almost a year. The source said other individuals became involved after most of the groundwork had been laid and then began taking credit, and that those directly involved for nearly a year were eventually barred from speaking publicly.

After the meeting, Zelensky said the ceasefire's success proved “a very simple thing: when Putin wants the fighting to stop, it stops.” A source close to US officials told the BBC that despite public praise, “the person who made [the ceasefire] possible, whether we like it or not, is essentially Putin,” and that it was done to pass the ball to Donald Trump ahead of midterm elections. Ukrainian political analyst Dmytro Levus said Russia's position had not changed and Moscow agreed because of US pressure, confirming that Russia can quickly stop firing and maintain a ceasefire when necessary.

As Kherson's frontline region saw its first six days of peace in years, the rest of Ukraine continued to be attacked. This week, drone and missile strikes killed and injured civilians. On Monday alone, more than 40 people were killed in a Russian strike on an aid distribution centre in Zaporizhzhia region, with more thought to be buried under rubble. Additional reporting by Anastasiia Levchenko in Kyiv.

Source: BBC World.