The White House says Russia and Ukraine agreed to a ceasefire in the city of Oleshky to allow humanitarian aid and create a safe passage for civilians to evacuate.
The administration said first lady Melania Trump negotiated the localized ceasefire, which will begin Thursday.
“Oleshky is a front-line war city on the brink of disaster. Oleshky’s remaining population is comprised primarily of elderly residents who urgently need medical attention, medicine, food, and clean water,” Mrs. Trump said in a statement regarding the Russian-occupied city. “It was abundantly clear that without my intervention, the possibility to bring humanitarian aid into the city and to evacuate the elderly would be impossible.”
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Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, leading to a devastating civilian toll and thousands of dead soldiers on both sides.
Mrs. Trump is trying to improve the humanitarian situation, including the return of Ukrainian children taken to Russia during the war.
She said the situation in Oleshky came to her attention on the sidelines of the recent United Nations General Assembly.
“My representative and I immediately leveraged the communication channel we established with Russia and Ukraine through the previous six reunifications of 34 children,” Mrs. Trump said. “Both nations promptly assigned teams to coordinate the complex mechanics involved, including demining. All parties have worked around the clock since that moment.”
Oleshky is located in southern Ukraine, across the Dnieper River from Kherson.
Roughly 24,000 people lived in Oleshky before the war, according to the White House.
Only 1,700 to 2,000 residents remain, mostly older residents unable to leave, along with about 50 children, the administration said.
The local ceasefire would come at a tenuous moment in negotiations to end the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and some U.S. congressional lawmakers are livid with President Trump for lifting sanctions on Russian fuel in an attempt to increase diesel supply and lower prices before the midterms.
They say the move undercuts a recent sanctions law named for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham and will help Russian President Vladimir Putin fuel his war machine.
Mr. Trump says he’s finding ways to make fuel affordable for Americans and wants both sides of the war to find a solution, pointing to the human toll.
He also said Russian sanctions would have made it difficult to secure the recent release of Stephen Hubbard, a Michigander who was living in Ukraine and detained by Russia.
Mr. Trump said he freed Mr. Hubbard without making concessions, though critics pointed to the lifting of sanctions as a giveaway to Mr. Putin.
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