Both sides will go into a temporary truce to give humanitarian aid to the residents of an Ukrainian town.
By Catholics for Catholics
In an attempt to bring peace to a five-year war between to bitter rivals, first lady Melania Trump negotiated a provisional ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine to permit humanitarian aid and civilian evacuations in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian town of Oleshky, her senior adviser, Marc Beckman, revealed for the first time Friday on Newsmax’s “National Report.”
Appearing live in the Newsmax studio, Beckman revealed that representatives of both countries had signed the agreement just hours before his appearance, marking an important humanitarian breakthrough in the nearly five-year war, according to a story by Newsmax.
“Let me start by being very crystal clear: the first lady of the United States of America has successfully negotiated a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia, located in this region of Oleshky,” Beckman told Newsmax.
“It will bring humanitarian aid to the entire city, this includes medics, medicine, food, clean water,” he said, noting the operation will include “an evacuation of the city of Oleshky as well.”
Scheduled to start on Oct. 29, the truce will permit Ukrainian and Russian civilian representatives to go into Oleshky, about 5 miles behind the front lines, to get to residents who need assistance and manage evacuations, Beckman said.
Before Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, Oleshky, located in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region, had about 24,000 residents
But now, fewer than 2,000 residents remain, mostly elderly civilians incapable of escaping, along with about 50 children.
In Oleshky, conditions have worsened radically, with residents encountering drastic food shortages, little electricity, no running water, and no heat.
Beckman described an increasingly desperate humanitarian emergency.
“They’re eating weeds and grass,” he told Newsmax, describing reports of civilians struggling to survive.
In a statement released Friday, Melania Trump said her intervention was essential to prevent further suffering.
“The situation in Oleshky is dire. Oleshky is a front-line war city on the brink of disaster,” the first lady said. “Oleshky’s remaining population consists primarily of elderly residents who urgently need medical attention, medicine, food, and clean water.”
“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.”
