Zelensky awards Melania Trump an order for helping secure local ceasefire in Oleshky

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday, 4 November, awarded US First Lady Melania Trump the first class of the Order of Princess Olga, the highest degree of this civilian decoration. The order was granted for her contribution to achieving a local ceasefire in Oleshky, a city in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine's Kherson region, where the war between Russia and Ukraine continues.

The decree was published on the Ukrainian president's website. It highlights Melania Trump's personal contribution to humanitarian aid for Ukraine, as well as her active work in the fields of human rights and charity.

The Oleshky ceasefire

Last month the US first lady announced a local truce between Russia and Ukraine in Oleshky. The four-day ceasefire began on 27 October and was the longest of this war. It allowed civilians to leave the city. Melania Trump has also been involved in efforts to bring back Ukrainian children taken to Russia, and she has said she will host Russian and Ukrainian representatives in Washington.

The evacuation

The civilian evacuation from Oleshky took place on 30 October and became possible after Russia and Ukraine, with US mediation, agreed on the truce. In recent months residents of the city have lived in particularly harsh conditions. Twenty-five buses were prepared to carry up to 750 people. It had previously been estimated that around 1,500 civilians remained in the city, mostly elderly people.

Residents could choose to be evacuated to Ukrainian-controlled or Russian-controlled territory. Those heading to Ukraine faced a complicated route: at Moscow's demand, they were first taken through occupied territory to the southern Russian city of Anapa, then flown to the Belarusian city of Gomel, and from there travelled to the Ukrainian border, which they crossed from the Chernihiv region side. Many Oleshky residents nevertheless plan to stay in the city, even though it is threatened by fighting.