Zelensky gives Melania Trump Ukraine's highest award after Oleshky ceasefire

What the report says

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has awarded Melania Trump Ukraine’s Order of Princess Olga, First Class, the country’s highest decoration for women, citing her humanitarian support for Ukraine and work related to children affected by the war. According to the presidential decree reported by BBC World News, the award also recognized her role in efforts tied to a ceasefire that enabled the evacuation of hundreds of people from Oleshky, a Russian-occupied city in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region.

The BBC said Russian and Ukrainian representatives are due to meet at the White House on Thursday at Melania Trump’s invitation. The delegations are expected to include Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, his Russian counterpart Yana Lantratova, Ukrainian MP Davyd Arakhamia and Russian official Kirill Dmitriev. The White House said Melania Trump had independently helped open talks between the two sides and secure the ceasefire, while both Russian and Ukrainian officials thanked her publicly for the outcome.

The report noted that details of the White House meeting have not been disclosed. Melania Trump is also scheduled to speak on the Oleshky ceasefire on Thursday. As broader context, the UN has said the forced transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia is a war crime and crime against humanity, and Ukraine says nearly 20,000 children have been taken to Russia and Belarus since the full-scale invasion began in 2022.