US first lady to host Ukrainian, Russian officials at White House ahead of Abu Dhabi talks

US First Lady Melania Trump has announced plans to host Russian and Ukrainian officials at the White House on Thursday, ahead of next week’s talks in Abu Dhabi aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.

“First Lady Melania Trump will personally bring representatives of Russia and Ukraine, two nations actively at war, together at the White House,” her office said in a statement. She was expected to speak at 11:00 AM local time (1600 GMT).

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Kirill Dmitriev, Russia’s adviser for international economic cooperation, and Yana Lantratova, its human rights ombudsman, planned to meet the first lady on Thursday “provided that all logistical arrangements work out”, Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency reported on Wednesday.

Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, said he would also meet the first lady and asked Ukrainians what they wanted him to tell her.

“I am heading to Washington. Important meetings lie ahead. But while I am on the road, I want to ask you something: If you could convey a single message to US First Lady Melania Trump, what would you say to her?” Lubinets wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had held “very detailed, hour-and-a-half-long” conversations with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner ahead of the Abu Dhabi meeting, which would mark the first talks between the US, Russia, and Ukraine since February.

The prospect of renewed talks has raised hopes for peace as the war enters its fifth year. Closer ties between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have also raised concerns that Washington could scale back its support for Kiev.

Six-day truce in Oleshky

On Wednesday, Zelenskyy awarded the first lady a national honour for helping broker a local ceasefire that allowed civilians to leave the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky in southern Ukraine.

“I hereby decree that the Order of Princess Olga, First Class, be awarded to Melania Trump, First Lady of the United States of America,” read a decree published on the Ukrainian presidential website. It recognised her “significant personal contribution to humanitarian support for Ukraine, and for active human rights and charitable work.”

“Mrs. Trump independently initiated engagement” to secure “a ceasefire in Oleshky and the surrounding Kherson region,” her office said in a statement.

The six-day truce began on October 27 and expired at 2100 GMT on November 1. Fighting continued elsewhere along the front.

In Oleshky, where residents had faced weeks of food and medicine shortages, the pause allowed crews to clear mines from roads so civilians could leave for Ukrainian-held territory or Russia. Nearly 800 people were evacuated, according to the first lady.

“This achievement marks an unprecedented diplomatic initiative by an American First Lady,” her office said on Tuesday. The first lady has also worked to secure the return of Ukrainian children taken to Russia.

Strikes after the truce

On November 2, the day after the truce expired, Russia twice bombed a school being used to distribute aid in Komyshuvakha, a village in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, the Ukrainian president said.

By Tuesday, Zelenskyy said, the strikes had killed at least 33 people.

Overnight into Tuesday, a Ukrainian strike set fire to a major oil refinery in the Russian city of Yaroslavl, Russian officials said.

Russia fired dozens of missiles and hundreds of drones at Ukraine’s power grid on Tuesday, cutting electricity in Kiev and at least six other regions, Ukrainian officials said.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had targeted facilities supplying electricity to military factories and the Ukrainian army.

TRT World / AFP — TRT World / AFP

Photo: AP Archive