Melania Trump calls for ‘enduring’ Russia-Ukraine peace as she hosts top officials at the White House

First lady Melania Trump expressed hope that a humanitarian ceasefire around a city in Ukraine would inspire progress toward a “more enduring” peace, as she hosted representatives from Russia and Ukraine at the White House on Thursday. The unprecedented meeting came as the Trump administration pushes for progress in broader peace negotiations, with the United States set to lead renewed trilateral talks with Russia and Ukraine in the United Arab Emirates, next week. Speaking at the White House, the first lady expressed hope that the six-day ceasefire around Oleshky would inspire a peace “more enduring than a temporary ceasefire,” before praising the “highly cooperative” Russian and Ukrainian leaders for helping bring about the pause. Melania Trump was joined by Kirill Dmitriev, Vladimir Putin’s special envoy, who thanked her on behalf of the Russian leader. “This humanitarian mission shows what can be achieved when compassion, determination and cooperation come together,” he said. Russia has repeatedly rejected calls for a wider ceasefire since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly five years ago. The limited ceasefire around Oleshky, which started Oct. 27 and lasted six days, allowed for the evacuation of hundreds of people trapped by fighting, blockades and extensive minefields, via neighboring Belarus. The city in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region was home to some 2,000 remaining residents on the brink of starvation. Both sides held fire throughout the truce, making it the largest de-escalation effort since the war began. Urging the first lady to keep going with her mission, David Arakhamia, the head of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s ruling faction in Ukraine’s parliament, said he hoped the deal would create a momentum “to actually keep the peace when the peace comes.” Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian parliamentary commissioner for human rights, then handed Melania Trump with Ukraine’s highest state honor, the Order of Princess Olga, 1st Class. Melania Trump then gave Dmitriev and Arakhamia personal letters to deliver to Putin and Zelenskyy. She did not respond to shouted questions from NBC News. Pope Leo XIV and some officials in Europe also lobbied heavily for the ceasefire in Oleshky. Thursday’s gathering appears to be the first time both sides met face-to-face at the White House. It comes as President Donald Trump ramped up pressure on Kyiv, after he agreed on deals with the Kremlin in a bid to break a monthslong deadlock in negotiations to settle the war. Next week’s Abu Dhabi peace talks will be the first since Republicans suffered major losses in the midterm elections, a blow to the president’s authority. Ukraine has been reeling from the worst collapse in relations with Washington since the start of the war. Trump signed a deal to buy Russian diesel and waived new sanctions on Moscow last month, while Kyiv complained of gaps in U.S. intelligence sharing and the slowdown of tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink service, crucial for Ukraine’s military and air defense. Ukraine has since said that both intelligence sharing and Starlink service have been restored, and that it was looking forward to resuming trilateral talks with the U.S. and Russia next week. “This will be a team-level format, and we count on the work in this format and our other diplomatic steps opening the way to a trilateral format at the leaders’ level,” Zelenskyy said Tuesday. “It is precisely such a format — at the leaders’ level — that can resolve the key issues in order to achieve a lasting peace and guaranteed security.” The meeting comes after Democrats captured full control of Congress in a striking repudiation of Trump’s agenda. Kremlin said it “sincerely hoped” that Trump would continue his “peace-building efforts” after the midterm elections. Ukraine offered no official response to the dramatic results, but some in the country expressed cautious optimism the Democratic surge would ease pressure from Washington. The negotiations to settle the war, led by Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, have stalled over the key question of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas industrial region, which Putin wants to seize in its entirety. Ukraine still controls key stronghold cities in the Donbas and has refused to give up this land, arguing Putin may be eyeing not just a public relations success but a powerful launchpad for future invasion attempts.