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Trump Meets With Top Putin Envoy 11/06 06:30
President Donald Trump met at the White House on Thursday with a Russian
envoy who was on the premises for an event with first lady Melania Trump and
suggested that some kind of grand deal about European security was in the
works, but said he did not meet with visiting Ukrainian officials who also were
on hand.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump met at the White House on Thursday
with a Russian envoy who was on the premises for an event with first lady
Melania Trump and suggested that some kind of grand deal about European
security was in the works, but said he did not meet with visiting Ukrainian
officials who also were on hand.
Trump, who has long boasted he could quickly broker an end to Russia's war
in Ukraine, has lately blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for
refusing to make concessions to end the conflict. During the closing weeks of
the midterm election campaign, Trump struck a deal with Russian President
Vladimir Putin to remove sanctions from Russian diesel exports.
Trump told reporters he met with Putin envoy Kirill Dmitriev but declined to
give details. The meeting took place as Trump's own envoys held talks with
other Ukrainian and European officials at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
"There's going to be an agreement, it's going to be a big agreement and it's
going to involve more than Ukraine," Trump said, adding that it might include
all of Europe.
One of the U.S. envoys in Brussels, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, said
on social media that Thursday's talks with Ukraine, NATO and European allies
were productive and focused on security guarantees for Ukraine and a broader
security structure for Europe. The United States is holding three-way talks
next week in Abu Dhabi with Ukraine and Russia, the first trilateral peace
discussions since February.
"We are working intensively with all parties to find practical solutions
that can bring this war to an end and establish the foundations for lasting
peace," Kushner wrote.
The first lady helped secure a recent temporary ceasefire in Oleshky
Dmitriev was at the White House for an event recognizing the recent six-day
truce between Russia and Ukraine in the besieged Ukrainian city of Oleshky. The
local ceasefire in the war-divided region of Kherson in southern Ukraine was in
effect from Oct. 27 to Nov. 1 and amounted to the most significant truce since
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Dmitriev thanked the first lady for her "distinguished humanitarian role" in
securing the temporary ceasefire. Dmitriev said Putin personally gave
instructions as part of the operation and sent his thanks to Melania Trump for
her work.
The head of the parliamentary faction of Zelenskyy's party, Davyd Arakhamia,
and Ukraine's human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, also spoke at the event.
Trump did not say why he didn't meet with the Ukrainian officials, and the
White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Arakhamia told the first lady she did an "amazing job" and encouraged her to
keep helping the Ukrainian people, who have endured more than four years of war
after Putin sent his troops across the border and invaded the country in
February 2022.
"Definitely we would like to ask you to keep going and to find new missions
and to de-escalate more as much as possible," Arakhamia said.
The first lady has worked with both countries since last year to reunite
families separated by the war. So far, she has helped nearly three dozen
children return to their relatives.
She said Thursday that she hoped the Oleshky ceasefire could become more
enduring and more widespread.
"Let Oleshky be the modest spark that grows into a lasting flame of peace,"
she said.
Zelenskyy, in a speech in Spain last week, said the operation in Oleshky
proved "something very simple. When Putin wants the fighting to stop, it stops.
And there was real silence, no attacks some days, and we saved hundreds of
lives."
Melania Trump has become more involved in foreign affairs lately
The ceasefire is the latest example of how Melania Trump has become more
involved in foreign affairs than some of her recent predecessors, who typically
travel abroad to spread U.S. goodwill and largely avoid involvement with
warring countries, though there have been some exceptions.
In 2022, months after Russia invaded Ukraine, first lady Jill Biden traveled
to western Ukraine to visit with Zelenskyy's wife in a town far away from the
front lines. Under tight security, first lady Laura Bush made several visits to
war-torn Afghanistan.
In an announcement that came as a surprise, the White House said on Oct. 23
that the first lady had brokered the ceasefire to help with the delivery of
much-needed humanitarian aid and to allow civilians to evacuate from a place
she described as being "on the brink of disaster."
An estimated 2,000 people remained in Oleshky when the temporary truce took
hold. They were offered the choice of evacuating to territory controlled by
Ukraine or Russia, or remaining in the city with replenished food and medical
supplies.
Supplies were delivered during the six-day window while hundreds of Oleshky
residents crossed into Ukrainian-held territory in a major evacuation operation.
Melania Trump said Thursday that nearly 800 people had been evacuated from
Oleshky, and she described how she initiated talks with officials in both
countries after learning about the situation at an event she held on the
sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly session in September. She said she and
her top adviser, Marc Beckman, worked directly with Russian and Ukrainian
leadership to define the terms of the ceasefire.
The situation in Oleshky was dire
Food and medical supplies had been scarce for months in Oleshky, once a city
of about 24,000 residents that sits on the Dnipro River separating Ukrainian
forces from the city's Russian occupiers. There is no electricity, heat or
running water.
Oleshky was captured by Moscow's forces on the first day of Russia's
full-scale invasion. Its buildings were shelled and burned, and its
infrastructure damaged. In June 2023, floodwaters inundated the city after the
Kakhovka Dam collapsed from an explosion that an Associated Press investigation
found was likely caused by the Russian military. Hundreds of residents were
killed.
Those left in the city along Ukraine's southeastern front face death from
hunger or disease as another harsh winter looms. Ukraine has appealed
repeatedly for a local ceasefire to organize evacuations. Russia, as the
occupying power, is obligated by international law to ensure civilians under
its control have what they need to survive.
The first lady presented Putin and Zelenskyy's representatives with large
white envelopes and asked them to deliver her personal letter to each leader.
Dmitriev presented her with a painting from an 11-year-old girl, while
Zelenskyy sent her a Ukrainian award recognizing her role in the ceasefire.
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