Russia and Ukraine Move Up Melania Trump-Brokered Ceasefire to Oct. 27
Ukraine and Russia have confirmed that a humanitarian ceasefire brokered by first lady Melania Trump in the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky will begin Oct. 27, two days earlier than first announced.
Ukraine’s General Staff said the truce would start at 3 a.m. Kyiv time, and Russia’s chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, separately confirmed the arrangement, Ukraine’s Hromadske reported Saturday.
The White House announced the deal Friday, saying the first lady had secured a ceasefire “localized to Oleshky” and that it would begin Oct. 29. It described her role as “Exclusive Intermediary” between the two sides.
The town in Ukraine’s Kherson region has been effectively cut off from regular food supplies since late May. More than 6,000 civilians, including about 200 children, may remain in the area, according to Hromadske.
The plan unfolds in three stages — a ceasefire, then humanitarian aid deliveries, then the evacuation of civilians — the Associated Press reported. Many details have not been made public.
Kremlin Praises First Lady
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the agreement Friday and said all civilians wishing to leave Oleshky would be allowed to, Reuters reported. He said the evacuation itself would take at least several days.
“We welcome the efforts of the First Lady of the United States, Mrs Melania Trump, who has made a significant contribution to the coordination of the humanitarian operation,” Peskov said.
Peskov said the first lady’s role had been discussed in a recent phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump.
“The people of Oleshky have limited electricity, live amid mined roads, and endure regular military attacks,” Melania Trump said in the White House statement. She said that without her intervention, aid and evacuations “would be impossible.”
Her senior adviser, Marc Beckman, told Fox News on Saturday that she “single-handedly brokered” the truce after weeks of mediation involving Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Beckman also said Russia has agreed to extend the ceasefire by two days and expand it to a broader area of the Kherson region. Officials had not publicly confirmed a wider area as of Saturday evening.
Beckman said the deal grew out of relationships the first lady built while negotiating the return of Ukrainian children. Thirty-four children have been reunited with their families through six separate exchanges since August 2025.
“By leveraging those relationships, she was able to bring everybody to the table and negotiate this ceasefire,” Beckman said.
President Trump praised his wife’s work. “I think she’s done a great job,” he said. “She’s into saving babies and bringing babies back home to their parents, and she’s been able to do something that’s great.”
Ukrainian forces had previously used drones to drop emergency supplies to residents of the town, including one delivery of nearly 400 packages of food, medicine and children’s supplies, Hromadske reported.
Neither side had reported that the humanitarian operation was underway as of Saturday.
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