Melania Trump hosts Russian and Ukrainian officials at White House, calls for a lasting truce after Oleshky ceasefire

US First Lady Melania Trump hosted officials from Russia and Ukraine at the White House on Thursday 5 November and called for a ceasefire "more enduring" than the six-day local truce she helped arrange in the Ukrainian town of Oleshky, AFP reported via Dawn. Direct meetings between the two sides have been rare since Russia's full invasion in February 2022.

Who was there

• Russia: presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev and human rights ombudsman Yana Lantratova.
• Ukraine: David Arakhamia, leader of President Zelensky's Servant of the People party, and ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets.

Lantratova and Lubinets worked side by side in Oleshky during the truce, organising evacuations and aid, one of the few cases of open cooperation between the two countries in the war.

What she said and sent

"Together, we can create something more enduring than a temporary ceasefire," Melania Trump told reporters. She gave the envoys personal letters for Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky and asked them to treat Oleshky as "a spark in a world of darkness".

The Oleshky truce, in a Russian-occupied town on the Dnipro that had been cut off and short of food, was the longest of the war so far. Both sides kept it, roads were cleared of mines and residents could leave for either Ukraine or Russia.

Dmitriev thanked her on Putin's behalf for her humanitarian role and her work on reuniting children separated by the war, including children Ukraine says Russia abducted. Zelensky awarded her the Order of Princess Olga, First Class, which Lubinets presented at the White House.

What comes next: Abu Dhabi

• Trilateral talks between the US, Russia and Ukraine are due in Abu Dhabi next week, the first three-way talks since February.
• Zelensky said he had a "very detailed" 90-minute call with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner ahead of them.
• President Trump said separately that he had met a Putin envoy and expected a Ukraine deal soon.

Some in Kyiv worry that a warmer Trump-Putin relationship could leave Ukraine with a deal it does not want. Trump had promised to end the war within 24 hours of taking office in January 2025; the Iran war took much of his attention this year.

Why it matters in Pakistan

An end to the war would ease pressure on world wheat and fuel prices, both of which Pakistan imports. Oil is already heading for a sharp weekly fall. See today's petrol price and dollar rate.