A six-day halt in fighting around Russian-occupied Oleshky let aid and residents move before U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said Russia and Ukraine would resume talks in Abu Dhabi Nov. 10-11.
The truce expired Sunday. NPR reported that aid reached Oleshky as hundreds of residents departed. The pause offered civilians a brief chance to leave while the United States pushed for an agreement to end the wider war.
At a White House ceremony on Nov. 5, first lady Melania Trump convened Kirill Dmitriev, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy, and Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman. NPR reported that Trump helped arrange the truce. Dmitriev thanked her and said Putin had personally instructed officials to carry it out. EconoTimes previously covered the White House meeting.
NPR described the gathering as rare. Heather Conley, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told NPR that the ceremony honored Russian officials for allowing aid after Russia had caused Oleshky’s occupation and starvation. She warned that treating Moscow and Kyiv as equally responsible could obscure Russia’s role in the crisis.
NPR said the White House regarded the meeting as a major diplomatic advance. President Donald Trump told reporters that Russia and Ukraine were close to an agreement and said a deal could “involve more than Ukraine.”
Witkoff said the delegations were scheduled to meet in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 10-11 for a new round of U.S.-led talks.
