american first lady

FORT RUCKER, Ala. — There’s a scene in Melania Trump’s documentary in which she enters the room as Donald Trump is rehearsing his inaugural address.

When he says the line about how “my proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker,” she offers a quick, verbal edit.

“Peacemaker and unifier,” she tells her husband to say instead.

But Melania is the Trump who is credited with recently bringing peace, if only for six days, to one war-torn city in southern Ukraine — an unusual intervention into an active war by an American first lady. Two days after Republican losses in the midterm elections knocked the president out of the spotlight, Melania Trump hosted Russian and Ukrainian officials at the White House to celebrate the temporary ceasefire.

It’s part of a burst of public activity by a first lady regarded as among the most private women to hold the role, and it comes just before the Nov. 20 release by Prime Video of “Melania: The Series,” a follow-up to the first lady’s documentary from January.

On Thursday, the first lady headed to Alabama to address U.S. troops — her third big event since the election. It follows a trip to Louisiana last weekend to announce a multimillion-dollar private endowment to fund scholarships for college students once in foster care.

Military families are a focus for Melania Trump

The first lady has made support for military families part of her portfolio. Her latest trip has taken her to Fort Rucker, an Army post in southern Alabama, with Usha Vance, the wife of Vice President JD Vance, a former Marine.

Before a backdrop that included a duo of Apache and Blackhawk helicopters, both women during the early Thanksgiving visit on Thursday thanked an assembly of hundreds of soldiers and their families for their service to the nation.

“The sacrifices of military families don’t make the headlines, but you are the foundation for the world’s most capable military,” Melania Trump said, urging Americans who will spend the holidays with loved ones to “take a moment to think of America’s service people.”

After their remarks, both women spoke with members of the crowd, pausing to shake hands and take photos.

Later, they would spend time with elementary students attending school on the base. Last year, both women marked the Thanksgiving season with a similar visit to Marine Corps members in North Carolina, thanking them for their service and recognizing the sacrifices their families make.

On Wednesday, they both accompanied their husbands to Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, for the annual Veterans Day observance.

Melania Trump says she was involved in the plans for Oleshky

The White House announced in late October that the first lady had brokered a temporary ceasefire in the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky in southern Ukraine as it faced a starvation crisis. The pause gave time for about 800 people to leave the city and allowed for deliveries of humanitarian aid to those who chose to stay.

On Thursday, Usha Vance called the first lady “a powerful voice for peace.” Last week, Melania Trump brought together at the White House officials from Russia and Ukraine who helped implement the ceasefire and talked about her role.

“I was involved in every stage of the planning,” she said. “I reviewed demining plans, aerial images, assessed roadways and discussed evacuation routes, hospital access, vehicles and medical resources. I was made aware of the preferred dates and timing of the operation.”

She thanked the Russian and Ukrainian presidents for their cooperation and said Oleshky could be the model for peace between their countries.

“Let Oleshky be the modest spark that grows into a lasting flame of peace,” she said. This week U.S. officials held talks with Russian and Ukrainian counterparts in the United Arab Emirates, but there was no breakthrough.

After the White House announced her role, President Trump said his wife is “doing better than the professionals” on his team whose shuttle diplomacy between Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy has yet to bring the nearly 5-year-old war to a close.

Her work on Oleshky followed her outreach to Putin last year as she took on the matter of helping reunite children and families separated by the war. She so far has helped return nearly three dozen children to their families.

She’ll be on the red carpet for a premiere of the Melania series

The first lady will head to New York City next week for the world premiere at Lincoln Center of “Melania: The Series.” The two new Prime Video episodes are billed as showing new aspects of her roles as wife, mother and first lady that weren’t in her documentary.

The first lady described the episodes in an interview on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends” as having “more conversation, one-on-one, with me.”

The episodes, which begin streaming Nov. 20, are supposed to include some surprises, too.

“There are some private questions that I will answer that people never heard before,” she said in the interview. “So it’s kind of exciting.”

Superville writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Meg Kinnard contributed from Columbia, S.C.

WASHINGTON — First Lady Melania Trump has brokered an upcoming ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine in the war-ravaged Ukrainian city of Oleshky to allow for humanitarian aid and the evacuation of civilians, the White House announced on Friday.

The localized ceasefire is set to begin Thursday, with the American first lady saying in a news release that the situation there is “on the brink of disaster.”

The White House said Trump had initiated the discussions and that she and a representative worked directly with Russian and Ukrainian leadership to define the terms of the ceasefire.

Ukraine’s lead negotiator for the agreement thanked Trump for her involvement and said the deal would be “extremely challenging to implement.”

“Under our agreement: first a ceasefire will be put in place; second, humanitarian aid will be delivered to Oleshky; and third, civilians will be allowed to move freely out of Oleshky,” Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, said in a video message posted online. “The operation will be carried out gradually and is extremely challenging to implement. I will therefore keep Ukrainian society informed and share the results of the operation.”

Russia’s chief of the general staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, said Russian forces “will cease fire on the Kherson axis” starting at 4 a.m. TuesdayMoscow time “in connection with the humanitarian operation near Oleshky.” The Russian forces will also carry out “engineering reconnaissance” and ensure “safe movement of the humanitarian convoy” into the city, Gerasimov said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said Moscow was grateful to the first lady and that effort was discussed during the latest call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Trump, he said.

Peskov said “those who want to leave it would be able to do so.” He would not say whether those who evacuate will be taken to Russia or Ukraine-held territory. He also demurred when asked how long the evacuation will last, saying only it would likely take several days.

Saving children is first lady’s focus, president says

Melania Trump has made helping children in conflict one of her signature issues and hosted a U.N. Security Council meeting on the issue earlier this year. She has written Putin to work on efforts to reunite families with children who have been displaced by the war.

“What she wants to do is save children, and that’s her focus,” the president said of the first lady during a question-and-answer exchange with journalists in Washington.

Tensions between Washington and Kyiv are rising

The development comes as tensions have increased to new highs between the Trump administration and Ukraine’s government. Kyiv has faced restrictions on the satellite internet system that it relies on to knock down Russian attacks, with Trump and other top U.S. officials sending mixed messages about who was responsible for throttling the Elon Musk-made Starshield system.

Trump also has recently waived new Russian sanctions, reached an agreement with Russia to import diesel and pushed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to make a deal to end the war that began in February 2022. In renewed efforts to revive the peace process, Trump envoy Steve Witkoff traveled to Norway this week for talks with Zelensky before meeting with Putin in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Zelensky did not mention the ceasefire in Oleshky during a remote appearance at the Hudson Institute, a Washington think tank. He did note that American Patriot missile interceptors were still on hold and Starshield and Starlink speed limits were still in place.

He also spoke of the importance of the United States to renewed diplomatic efforts to end the war, including a possible joint meeting with Trump and Putin.

Dire situation in Oleshky

Food and medical supplies have been scarce for months in Oleshky, which sits on the Dnipro River that separates Ukrainian forces from the city’s Russian occupiers. There is no electricity, heat or running water. Roads leading from town are mined and dotted with burned-out cars. Drones buzz overhead.

Once a city of about 24,000 residents, Oleshky was captured by Moscow’s forces on the first day of their full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Its buildings were shelled and burned, and its infrastructure damaged. In June 2023, floodwaters inundated the city after the Kakhovka Dam collapsed from an explosion that an Associated Press investigation found was likely caused by the Russian military. Hundreds of residents were killed.

Those left in the city along Ukraine’s southeastern front face death from hunger or disease as another harsh winter looms. Ukraine has appealed repeatedly for a local ceasefire to organize evacuations. Russia, as the occupying power, is obligated by international law to ensure civilians under its control have what they need to survive.

Melania Trump details the mission

Melania Trump said in the White House news release that civilian leaders from Ukraine and Russia will visit Oleshky residents to determine the level of assistance they require.

“Residents who wish to evacuate will receive coordinated support and transportation to their preferred destination,” she said. “I anticipate some will want to go to Russia, and some to Ukraine.”

Melania Trump also said “an impartial American media organization” will accompany and document Russian and Ukrainian teams on the ground throughout the process.

“This will play a significant role in ensuring that the wishes of each family are faithfully respected,” she said.

The statement did not identify the media organization.

Finley writes for the Associated Press. AP writers Seung Min Kim and Konstantin Toropin in Washington; Volodymyr Yurchuk in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia, contributed to this report.