WASHINGTON: US First Lady Melania Trump called for a “more enduring” ceasefire in Ukraine as she hosted a rare meeting between officials from the war-torn country and its invader Russia at the White House on Thursday.

The unprecedented meeting hoped to build on a localised six-day truce in the starvation-hit Ukrainian city of Oleshky that US President Donald Trump’s wife had announced last month. “Now we must use the courage we brought to Oleshky to find common ground through a shared concern for the suffering of innocent people,” Melania Trump told reporters.

“Together, we can create something more enduring than a temporary ceasefire.” The Slovenian-born former model said she was sending the envoys back with personal letters to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

She urged them to use the Oleshky ceasefire — the longest truce so far in the Russian invasion that began in February 2022 — as a “spark in a world of darkness.” “The ceasefire in Oleshky would not be possible without President Putin and President Zelensky. Their cooperation establishes a meaningful precedent for advancing peace throughout the region,” she added.

The rare halt in fighting, which was respected by both sides, allowed roads to be demined and residents to depart for either Ukraine or Russia. Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev said he thanked Melania Trump on Put­in’s behalf for her “distinguished humanitarian role” in brokering the truce in Oleshky and for work on reuniting children separated from their families by the war. They include children allegedly abducted by Russia.

Behind-the-scenes diplomacy

The White House meeting also reunited Russia’s human rights ombudsman Yana Lantratova and her counterpart from Kyiv, Dmytro Lubinets, who formed an unlikely bond during the Oleshky ceasefire.

The pair were on the ground in the devastated town, addressing the media together on efforts to evacuate residents and deliver aid, in one of the most substantial instances of cooperation between the warring countries.

The US first lady’s efforts come ahead of trilateral talks next week in Abu Dhabi aimed at ending the Ukraine war — the first between Russia, Ukraine and the United States since February.

The talks have revived hopes for ending the grinding war, although a recent rapprochement between Donald Trump and Putin has raised concerns the United States could turn its back on Kyiv. Trump had promised to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours of taking office in January 2025 but his peace efforts have been intermittent, with the Iran war taking much of his attention this year.

Zelensky said he had a “very detailed, hour-and-a-half-long” conversation with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner ahead of the Abu Dhabi talks.

The Ukrainian president awarded Melania Trump a national honour for her role in brokering the Oleshky ceasefire, which Lubinets personally presented at the White House. “I hereby decree that the Order of Princess Olga, First Class, be awarded to Melania Trump, First Lady of the United States of America,” a decree read on the Ukrainian presidential website.

The US first lady stunned the world when she announced in October 2025 that she had established a secret channel of communication with Putin in a bid to reunite war-separated children. She has since played a growing but still behind-the-scenes diplomatic role in the Ukraine conflict — even as her husband campaigns openly to win the Nobel Peace Prize despite his own failed efforts to end the war.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2026