Inside Melania Trump's secret diplomatic role in the Russia-Ukraine ceasefire deal
EXCLUSIVE: Moscow and Kyiv remain locked in a years-long grinding war, but in one Ukrainian city, the fight has quieted — and soon the Russian-occupied aging population in Oleshky will be offered humanitarian relief and a way out.Behind the localized ceasefire is an unlikely mediator: first lady Melania Trump.And her diplomatic effort in the war-torn region is not over, Fox News Digital has learned.Trump spent weeks moderating between Russian and Ukrainian officials to hammer out a deal over the devastated city in Ukraine's Kherson region, ultimately winning the trust of both governments to serve as their "exclusive intermediary," according to a senior adviser for the first lady.The agreement brought officials from both countries together in Belarus last week to sign off on a detailed humanitarian operation aimed at getting food, clean water, medicine and doctors into Oleshky, Ukraine, and providing safe passage out for residents who want to leave.First lady Melania Trump (Finn Gomez/Getty Images)Fox News Digital obtained the signature pages of the agreement, signed Oct.
23 by Russia's human rights commissioner, Tatyana Moskalkova, and her Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Lubinets.The documents also lay out plans for continued humanitarian operations in the region coordinated with the first lady.For the Slovenia-born first lady, the war in her native Europe was not entirely unfamiliar territory: she had already mediated exchanges of Ukrainian and Russian children.
Negotiating an agreement to stop the fighting, however, marked a significant expansion of that role.MELANIA TRUMP'S ADVISOR REVEALS HOW SHE BRIDGED PUTIN, ZELENSKYY TO BROKER FRONTLINE UKRAINE TRUCEJust across the Dnipro from the Ukrainian-held city of Kherson, Oleshky was once home to roughly 24,000 people.Russia seized the city at the outset of its 2022 invasion, and years of occupation and fighting have reduced its population to around 2,000, many of them elderly.The city now sits squarely on the fron...