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Melania Trump mediated ceasefire in Oleshky enabling evacuations Russian and Ukrainian ombudsmen plan recurring humanitarian missions to Oleshky
Oleshky humanitarian missions
Russia and Ukraine agreed to pursue recurring humanitarian missions to Oleshky, a frontline town in Ukraine's Kherson region that has remained under Russian military control since the early weeks of the full-scale invasion, after the conclusion of an inaugural aid operation.
Russian Human Rights Commissioner Yana Lantratova said she and Ukrainian Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets had committed to pursuing "at least monthly" humanitarian missions to deliver supplies and assess conditions for residents still inside the city.
The agreement followed a localized ceasefire that ran fromOctober 27 to November 1, and the officials publicly thanked U.S. First Lady Melania Trump for her central mediation role in making the operation possible.
Melania Trump said "without my intervention, the possibility to bring humanitarian aid into the city and to evacuate the elderly would be impossible," and the ceasefire took effect on October 27 covering designated areas around Oleshky to enable aid convoys and voluntary civilian evacuations.
Lantratova said the first mission fell short of its logistical ceiling, with the total number of people assisted not exceeding 750, while Melania Trump separately said nearly 800 people received assistance or evacuation during the operation.
White House talks set
Melania Trump will host Russian and Ukrainian representatives at the White House on November 5, with both sides confirming their participation in a meeting focused on a localized cease-fire in Ukraine's southern Kherson region. RFE/RL said Ukraine will be represented by David Arakhamia and Dmytro Lubinets, while Russia is expected to send Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, and Yana Lantratova. The localized cease-fire around Oleshky from October 27 to November 2 was intended to allow humanitarian aid deliveries and the evacuation of vulnerable civilians, and Melania Trump said she helped broker it to allow those humanitarian efforts.
Eugene Goncharov, director of policy at the American Coalition for Ukraine, told RFE/RL, "We don't have high expectations," and he argued Russia could end the war at any time but had repeatedly chosen not to engage in serious cease-fire efforts. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the temporary cease-fire should not be extrapolated to the broader peace settlement process, and he said Russia was not seeking a partial easing of the conflict.
Expansion hopes and limits
Ukrainian and Russian ombudsmen urged Melania Trump to extend the Oleshky evacuation mission to other communities in Kherson Oblast and eventually across Ukraine, and Dmytro Lubinets said he wanted to do "exactly the same" as Lantratova's proposal.
Lubinets clarified that the mission is initially expected to expand to other parts of Kherson Oblast and eventually to other oblasts, while Zelensky thanked Melania Trump for helping coordinate the humanitarian operation in Russian-occupied Oleshky in Kherson Oblast.
Zelensky said, "If the First Lady can do it and continues to do so, it will be very helpful," and he added that it was difficult to assess whether such humanitarian local agreements could be extended to other front-line areas.
The New Voice of Ukraine described the ceasefire timeline as beginning at 3 a.m. Kyiv time on October 27, with the main phase of the humanitarian mission in Oleshky beginning on October 30 after demining operations along designated routes.
The sources also described the operation's end, with Zelensky announcing on October 31 the completion of the humanitarian operation to evacuate residents from temporarily occupied Oleshky, and the evacuated Ukrainian citizens crossing the state border into Ukraine's Chernihiv Oblast.
