Dmitriev thanks Melania Trump for Oleshky mission at White House

Russia was represented at the White House meeting with U.S. First Lady Melania Trump by presidential special envoy Kirill Dmitriev and Commissioner for Human Rights Yana Lantratova. Dmitriev thanked Melania Trump for her role in the humanitarian operation in Oleshky, and she gave him a personal letter for Vladimir Putin.

U.S. First Lady Melania Trump received representatives of Russia and Ukraine at the White House on Thursday, November 5. They had taken part in preparing the humanitarian operation in Oleshky, in the Kherson region. As Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had announced earlier that day, Russia was represented by Russian presidential special envoy and head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund Kirill Dmitriev and Russia’s Commissioner for Human Rights Yana Lantratova. Ukraine was represented by Verkhovna Rada Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets and David Arakhamia, head of the Servant of the People parliamentary faction.

The U.S. administration called the meeting unprecedented. The White House said it was apparently the first time in U.S. history that a first lady had personally brought representatives of two warring states together at the residence. Melania Trump invited Dmitriev to the podium first and thanked him “for his cooperation and professionalism.”

In his remarks, Dmitriev thanked the first lady for her “outstanding humanitarian role” in resolving the situation in Oleshky. “She played a key leadership role in coordinating the humanitarian operation in Oleshky and reuniting Russian and Ukrainian families,” the special envoy said. Dmitriev also said that Putin highly values Donald Trump and his team’s peace efforts and supports U.S. initiatives on prisoner exchanges and humanitarian cooperation.

Lantratova: “Oleshky must be the first step”

Lantratova led the Russian part of the mission on the ground, while Lubinets led the Ukrainian side. The ceasefire in the Kherson direction took effect at 4:00 a.m. Moscow time on October 27 and was later extended until 10:59 p.m. on November 1. On October 30, a convoy carrying food, medicine, hygiene supplies and fuel entered Oleshky. Lantratova said 25 buses with at least 750 seats and nine ambulances had been prepared for the evacuation, while more than 50 medical workers accompanied the convoy. There were also fatalities: two people, including a bomb-disposal expert, died while clearing the road to the city of mines, the ombudsperson said.

On November 1, Lantratova announced the mission’s completion and said both sides had fulfilled their commitments. Everyone who wanted to leave for Russia reached their destination safely, while residents who chose Ukraine were able to leave freely with their pets. “Oleshky must be the first step,” she stressed.

In Washington, Melania Trump separately thanked the Russian ombudsperson. “I express my deepest appreciation to Ms. Yana Lantratova, Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation. Your dedication brings hope and dignity to those devastated by war,” the first lady said. She said Russia and Ukraine had agreed to work with her as an “exclusive mediator,” and that the sides had signed written agreements to that effect in two languages on October 23.

A city on the left bank of the Dnipro

Oleshky lies on the left bank of the Dnipro, opposite Kherson, and has been under the control of Russian forces since 2022. About 24,000 people lived there before the fighting began. The White House estimated that between 1,700 and 2,000 residents, mostly elderly people, and about 50 children remained in the city by autumn. Around 90% of its territory was flooded after the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant in 2023. Melania Trump said nearly 800 people had been evacuated from Oleshky in total.

Moscow had previously discussed the first lady’s mediation efforts. Speaking at the plenary session of the Russia-Africa summit on October 29, Vladimir Putin said the humanitarian mission in Oleshky had been organized “with the support of the First Lady of the United States.” The White House said the negotiations took place through channels that Melania Trump’s office had previously used to reunite 34 children with their families in Russia and Ukraine.

Кирилл Дмитриев с Джаредом Кушнером и Стивом Уиткоффом в Кремле (архив)

A personal letter to Putin

At the end of the ceremony, Melania Trump gave Dmitriev and Arakhamia personal letters addressed to Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky, respectively. The contents of the letters were not disclosed. Dmitriev, in turn, presented the first lady with a drawing by an 11-year-old girl from Oleshky. “Dear Melania, you have saved so many lives,” he said as he handed it to her.

Footage shows the first lady handing envelopes containing the letters to representatives of both delegations. In her remarks, she stressed that the ceasefire in Oleshky would have been impossible without Presidents Putin and Zelensky, and said their cooperation created a “significant precedent” for advancing peace in the region. On behalf of Zelensky, the Ukrainian delegation presented Melania Trump with the Order of Princess Olga, First Class.

The first lady expressed hope that the truce in Oleshky would become a “spark” from which a “flame of peace” would grow. The meeting took place several days before a new round of trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States. Peskov said the delegations would meet on November 10–11 in Abu Dhabi, with Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky leading the Russian delegation.

Video: White House / social media. Photo: Dmytro Petishkin / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0), Kremlin.ru (CC BY 4.0)

Dmitriev thanks Melania Trump for Oleshky mission at White House