Trump meets at the White House with Putin envoy after he appeared with Melania Trump

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Putin’s envoy complimented the first lady

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Speaking at her invitation at the event earlier Thursday, Dmitriev thanked the first lady for her “distinguished humanitarian role” in securing the six-day truce.

Dmitriev added that Putin personally gave instructions as part of the operation and sent his thanks to Melania Trump. Officials from Ukraine also participated in the event recognizing the ceasefire, which was signed Oct. 23.

The head of the parliamentary faction of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s party, Davyd Arakhamia, and Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, also spoke at the event.

Arakhamia told the first lady she did an “amazing job” and encouraged her to keep helping the Ukrainian people, who have endured more than four years of war after Putin sent his troops across the border and invaded the country in 2022.

“Definitely we would like to ask you to keep going and to find new missions and to de-escalate more as much as possible,” Arakhamia said.

The first lady has worked with both countries since last year to reunite families separated by the war. So far, she has helped nearly three dozen children return to their relatives.

She said Thursday that she hoped the Oleshky ceasefire could become more enduring and more widespread.

“Let Oleshky be the modest spark that grows into a lasting flame of peace,” she said.

Peace between Russia and Ukraine so far has eluded President Trump, who alternately has pressed Russia and Ukraine to end the war since he returned to office nearly two years ago.

Zelenskyy, in a speech in Spain on Friday, said the operation in Oleshky proved “something very simple. When Putin wants the fighting to stop, it stops. And there was real silence, no attacks some days, and we saved hundreds of lives.”

First lady tackles foreign policy challenge

The ceasefire is the latest example of how Melania Trump has become more involved in foreign affairs than some of her recent predecessors, who typically travel abroad to spread U.S. goodwill and avoid involvement with warring countries.

In 2022, months after Russia invaded Ukraine, first lady Jill Biden traveled to western Ukraine to visit with Zelenskyy’s wife in a town far away from the front lines. Under tight security, first lady Laura Bush made several visits to war-torn Afghanistan.

In an announcement that came as a surprise, the White House said on Oct. 23 that the first lady had brokered the ceasefire to help with the delivery of much-needed humanitarian aid and to allow civilians to evacuate from a place she described as being “on the brink of disaster.”

Ukrainian, Russian and U.S. negotiators earlier that day had reached an agreement to deliver relief to Oleshky in the war-divided region of Kherson in southern Ukraine.

The local ceasefire was in effect from Oct. 27 to Nov. 1 and amounted to the most significant truce since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

An estimated 2,000 people remained in Oleshky when the temporary truce took hold. They were offered the choice of evacuating to territory controlled by Ukraine or Russia, or remaining in the city with replenished food and medical supplies.

Supplies were delivered during the six-day window while hundreds of Oleshky residents crossed into Ukrainian-held territory in a major evacuation operation.

Melania Trump said Thursday that nearly 800 people had evacuated Oleshky, and she described how she initiated talks with officials in both countries after learning about the situation at an event she held on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly session in September. She said she and her top adviser, Marc Beckman, worked directly with Russian and Ukrainian leadership to define the terms of the ceasefire.

Situation in Oleshky was dire

Food and medical supplies had been scarce for months in Oleshky, once a city of about 24,000 residents that sits on the Dnipro River separating Ukrainian forces from the city’s Russian occupiers. There is no electricity, heat or running water.

Oleshky was captured by Moscow’s forces on the first day of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Its buildings were shelled and burned, and its infrastructure damaged. In June 2023, floodwaters inundated the city after the Kakhovka Dam collapsed from an explosion that an Associated Press investigation found was likely caused by the Russian military. Hundreds of residents were killed.

Those left in the city along Ukraine’s southeastern front face death from hunger or disease as another harsh winter looms. Ukraine has appealed repeatedly for a local ceasefire to organize evacuations. Russia, as the occupying power, is obligated by international law to ensure civilians under its control have what they need to survive.

The first lady presented Putin and Zelenskyy’s representatives with large white envelopes and asked them to deliver her personal letter to each leader. Dmitriev presented her with a painting from an 11-year-old girl while Zelenskyy sent her a Ukrainian award recognizing her role in the ceasefire.

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Associated Press Writer Michelle L. Price and Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, contributed to this report.

Darlene Superville, The Associated Press