Both sides held fire throughout the truce, making it the largest de-escalation effort since Russia’s full-scale invasion in early 2022.
“This achievement marks an unprecedented diplomatic initiative by an American First Lady,” the White House said Tuesday. of the ceasefire.
Pope Leo XIV and some European officials also pushed for the ceasefire in Oleshky.
On Wednesday, Ukraine awarded a state award to Melania Trump for “her significant personal contribution to humanitarian support for Ukraine.” The Order of Princess Olga, 1st Class is an honor for women who have made an outstanding contribution to the country.
Ukraine is reeling from the worst breakdown in its relations with Washington since the start of the war. Trump signed a deal to buy Russian diesel and lifted new sanctions on Moscow last month, while kyiv has complained about gaps in US intelligence sharing and a slowdown in tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink service, crucial to Ukraine’s military and air defense.
Ukraine has since said intelligence sharing and Starlink service have been restored and that it looks forward to the resumption of trilateral negotiations with the United States and Russia next week.
“It will be a team format, and we count on working in this format and our other diplomatic steps paving the way for a trilateral format at the leadership level,” Zelenskyy said on Tuesday. “It is precisely such a format, at the leadership level, that can resolve key issues in order to achieve lasting peace and guaranteed security.”
The meeting comes after Democrats took full control of Congress, strikingly rejecting Trump’s agenda.
The Kremlin said it “sincerely hopes” that Trump will continue his “peacebuilding efforts” after the midterm elections. Ukraine has offered no official response to the dramatic results, but some in the country have expressed cautious optimism that Democrats are gaining momentum to ease pressure from Washington.
Negotiations to settle the war, led by Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, have stalled over the key issue of the industrial Donbass region in eastern Ukraine, which Putin wants to seize in its entirety.
Ukraine still controls strong towns in Donbas and has refused to cede that land, arguing that Putin envisions not only a public relations success but also a powerful launching pad for future invasion attempts.
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