WASHINGTON -- US first lady 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, as a new round of US-mediated peace talks is set to take place next week.
The meeting follows a six-day cease-fire in and around the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky, which Melania Trump said she helped broker to allow humanitarian aid deliveries and the evacuation of vulnerable civilians.
According to sources who spoke to RFE/RL, Ukraine will be represented by David Arakhamia, head of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Servant of the People parliamentary faction, and Dmytro Lubinets, the country's human rights ombudsman. Russia is expected to send Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, and Yana Lantratova, Russia's human rights commissioner.
US First Lady Melania Trump (file photo)
The announcement comes amid renewed diplomatic activity, with Russia confirming on November 3 that trilateral talks involving Moscow, Kyiv, and Washington will take place in Abu Dhabi on November 10-11.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said longtime Russian President Vladimir Putin aide Vladimir Medinsky would lead Moscow's delegation at the talks in the UAE. The discussions, mediated by Washington, are expected to address efforts to end Russia's nearly five-year full-scale war against Ukraine, postwar security arrangements, and ways to de-escalate the conflict.
Oleshky Cease-Fire Offers Humanitarian Breakthrough
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.
Melania Trump announced on October 23 that she had helped secure the arrangement after raising the humanitarian situation in Oleshky with Russian and Ukrainian leadership.
Her office said the initiative enabled the delivery of critical aid and the evacuation of nearly 800 people, who were able to return to Ukrainian-controlled territory.
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US, Russia, Ukraine To Resume Peace Talks Amid Doubts Over BreakthroughThe humanitarian situation in Oleshky had become increasingly desperate. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said in September that some residents had been forced to eat grass and weeds amid shortages of food, medicine, clean water, and electricity.
The city, located on the eastern bank of the Dnieper River in the occupied Kherson region, had a prewar population of about 24,000. Only a fraction of its residents remained after displacement and evacuations.
Ukraine, however, accused Russian forces of exploiting the temporary pause to reinforce their military positions in the area.
Eugene Goncharov, director of policy at the American Coalition for Ukraine, said he welcomed the Oleshky cease-fire as evidence that Russia was capable of agreeing to localized pauses in fighting when it chose to do so, but cautioned against expecting a broader breakthrough.
"We don't have high expectations," he told RFE/RL, arguing Russia could end the war at any time but had repeatedly chosen not to engage in serious cease-fire efforts. "The important thing to remember here is that Russia can at any point end this war and just chooses not to," he said.
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Russian Strikes Kill More Than 30 In Ukrainian Town As Aid Hub Hit Multiple Times, Kyiv SaysGoncharov said he hoped the latest initiative would prove different, adding: "Perhaps this time will be different."
As evacuations from the war-torn city continued on October 30, the Kremlin said the temporary cease-fire there should not be extrapolated to the broader peace settlement process in Ukraine.
Moscow has repeatedly said it was not seeking a partial easing of the conflict, urging a complete resolution that would include its demands, including full control over Ukrainian territories that Russian forces have been unable to seize on the battlefield.
Cautious Hopes For The Peace Process
Matthew Boyse, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and a former deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs during Donald Trump's first administration, said Russia could be seeking to build on the initiative by offering further localized cease-fires in return for major Ukrainian concessions.
Although postwar security arrangements and de-escalation may feature in the upcoming discussions, Boyse said, the gap between Moscow and Kyiv remained too wide for an agreement to be within reach.
"These issues may be on the agenda, but the sides have been so far apart on them that it is difficult to imagine how their differences can be bridged at this time," he told RFE/RL.
He added that Russia believes time is on its side.
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Tears Of Joy As Ukrainians Evacuated From Russian-Occupied Oleshky Reunite With Family
William Taylor, a former US ambassador to Ukraine, said the Oleshky arrangement could be a starting point, but any meaningful breakthrough would depend on Putin agreeing to a broader cease-fire.
The US and Ukraine support a cease-fire, Taylor said, but it remains unclear whether Moscow is prepared to do the same. "If the Russians agree to a ceasefire, that would be a breakthrough," he told RFE/RL.
Taylor said that once a political agreement to stop fighting was reached, military experts could work out the technical details, including monitoring mechanisms using drones, surveillance aircraft and sensors, as well as procedures for dealing with violations.
"That's easy," he said. "The hard part and the breakthrough would be for Putin to say yes, he's agreed to a cease-fire."
Against this backdrop of cautious expectations, international efforts to advance the peace process are continuing. The European Commission is scheduled to host US, Ukrainian, and European representatives in Brussels on November 4. Delegations from France, Germany, Britain, and NATO will also attend, alongside the World Bank.
Another gathering of the Coalition of the Willing, a group of Ukraine's closest allies working to support its defense against Russia's invasion, is scheduled for November 19.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to attend a November 9-10 Group of Seven foreign ministers' meeting in Marseille, France, where Ukraine will be among the key issues.