WASHINGTON - US First Lady Melania Trump said in a surprise announcement on Friday she had brokered a localised ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine in the ravaged city of Oleshky, where citizens are trapped and running out of food.
Residents in the Russian-occupied city would be allowed to choose to evacuate to either Ukraine or Russia under the truce, which would begin on October 29, said a statement from her office.
"The situation in Oleshky is dire. Oleshky is a front-line war city on the brink of disaster," the 56-year-old wife of US President Donald Trump said in the statement.
"It was abundantly clear that without my intervention, the possibility to bring humanitarian aid into the city and to evacuate the elderly would be impossible."
The Kremlin welcomed Melania Trump's "humanitarian" involvement, while Russia's army chief said it would observe the truce from 0100 GMT on October 27.
There was no immediate reaction from Ukraine.
The announcement comes a year after the Slovenian-born former model stunned the world by revealing she had established a channel of communication with Russian President Vladimir Putin to reunify children separated from their parents by the war.
It also comes as President Trump steps up efforts to end Moscow's four-and-a-half-year war on Ukraine -- largely by pivoting back towards Putin and away from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Trump praised his wife, saying the Oleshky ceasefire was "her initiative" and came after her office contacted both sides.
"What she wants to do is save children," Trump told reporters.
Asked if she could participate in trilateral Ukraine-Russia-US peace talks that are due to restart next month, Trump replied: "No, but it's not the worst idea I've ever heard."
-AFP