Melania Trump Got Them Out. Oleshky Shows What Quiet American Leadership Can Do
Acting as "Exclusive Intermediary," the First Lady brokered a ceasefire for one flooded front-line town, and buses left Oleshky for the first time in more than four years. The United Nations says it played no role in the evacuation.
By Clara Hughes
For more than four years, Oleshky has been one of the forgotten places of the war in Ukraine. It sits on the left bank of the Dnipro River, directly across from Kherson, on the front line. This week, buses finally drove out. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported on Friday that the evacuation of civilians was completed "without incident," with buses leaving the town for the first time in more than four years. That happened because the First Lady of the United States decided it should. On October 23, the White House announced that Melania Trump had secured a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine "localized to the city of Oleshky," so that humanitarian aid could enter and civilians could leave through a designated safe passage. According to the White House, she and her representative worked directly with Russian and Ukrainian leadership on the terms, "in her formal role as Exclusive Intermediary." Her own words were blunt. "It was abundantly clear that without my intervention, the possibility to bring humanitarian aid into the city and to evacuate the elderly would