Russian and Ukrainian delegations are due to meet at the White House
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has awarded US First Lady Melania Trump the Order of Princess Olha, 1st Class, Ukraine’s highest award for women. A presidential decree cited Trump’s “significant personal contribution to humanitarian support for Ukraine” as the reason for the honor.
The award came after a ceasefire in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region ended, allowing several hundred people to be evacuated from the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky.
Russian and Ukrainian delegations are due to meet at the White House on Thursday at Melania Trump’s invitation. The groups include human rights ombudsmen involved in the evacuation mission and senior officials. The White House said Trump had “independently initiated engagement between the two warring nations and successfully secured a ceasefire.” It added, “This achievement marks an unprecedented diplomatic initiative by an American First Lady.”
Both the Russian and Ukrainian sides have repeatedly thanked Trump for brokering the ceasefire, though neither has explained the nature or extent of her involvement.
The announced delegations include Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets and Russian counterpart Yana Lantratova, along with Ukrainian MP Davyd Arakhamia and Russian senior official Kirill Dmitriev. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian delegation would consist of Lantratova and Dmitriev. Dmitriev, a Russian businessman close to the Kremlin, has frequently taken part in US-brokered ceasefire talks.
Lubinets and Lantratova traveled together into Oleshky last week, an unusual show of cooperation between Russian and Ukrainian officials. Arakhamia, who heads Zelensky’s party in parliament, has previously been part of Ukraine’s negotiating team in peace talks with Russia. According to diplomatic sources quoted by Ukrainian media, he was responsible for informal contact between the White House and Moscow during the ceasefire. He has confirmed he will take part in Thursday’s talks.
Dmitriev and Arakhamia are veteran participants in high-level peace negotiations. It is unusual for a meeting involving such senior representatives to be convened through an initiative led by a US first lady. No details of the White House event have been shared. In a social media post while on his way to the US, Lubinets said, “There are important meetings ahead.”
Trump is also due to deliver remarks on the Oleshky ceasefire at 11:00 (16:00 GMT) on Thursday, according to the White House website.
Zelensky’s decree also cited Trump’s wider humanitarian work, including her efforts concerning Ukrainian children affected by the war. She has largely remained discreet on foreign policy, but in 2025 she said an “open channel of communication” had been established with Russian President Vladimir Putin, allowing for Ukrainian children displaced by the war to be reunited with families.
Earlier this year, the UN said the deportation and forcible transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia constitutes a crime against humanity and a war crime. According to Ukraine, almost 20,000 children have been illegally sent to Russia and Belarus since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Separately, Russian, Ukrainian and American representatives are due to meet in Abu Dhabi next week in the first trilateral meeting since February. US envoy Steve Witkoff said on Monday that the talks would focus on postwar security agreements and de-escalation.