U.S. First Lady Melania Trump will bring representatives of Russia and Ukraine together at the White House. This was announced by the U.S. president’s administration, without specifying who the participants would be or what format the meeting would take.
The statement said that Melania Trump would address the nation at the White House on November 5 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. It will focus on the local truce in Oleshky and the Kherson region.
„This event represents an exceptionally important moment in American history,“ the statement said.According to the White House, the first lady herself initiated contacts between the two warring sides and helped negotiate the truce in Oleshky. Washington is presenting the initiative as the first diplomatic move of such magnitude undertaken by an American first lady.
The Truce in Oleshky
The six-day local truce in the city began as part of a humanitarian operation. The aim is to deliver food, medicine and water to around 2,000 remaining residents, as well as evacuate those who wish to leave.
Ukraine’s ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said that representatives of Ukraine, the United States and Russia would be on the ground once the road to Oleshky had been cleared of mines and the humanitarian cargo had been delivered. Those evacuated will be able to choose whether to be taken to Ukraine or Russia.
Lubinets and his Russian counterpart Yana Lantratova said that no violations of the ceasefire regime had been recorded for 30 hours. At the same time, Russian and Ukrainian forces continue fighting in other areas.
No Set Date for the Next Talks
Alongside the humanitarian mission, Washington is trying to resume talks between Russia and Ukraine with U.S. mediation. They are expected to take place in Abu Dhabi, but no specific date has yet been set.
According to The Associated Press, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy identified the period between November 6 and 10 as a possible timeframe for the meeting. The agency noted that Washington is waiting to see how events unfold in the Middle East before scheduling the talks.
Russian presidential adviser on foreign policy Yury Ushakov said that European representatives would not be invited. The upcoming talks are therefore shaping up as a format involving representatives of Russia, Ukraine and the United States, without the participation of European countries.
Sources: bta.bg, apnews.com, washingtonpost.com