Oleshky humanitarian operation credited to Melania Trump was actually negotiated by Russian and Ukrainian intelligence agencies, Le Monde reports
Russian and Ukrainian intelligence services prepared the mission to evacuate civilians from Oleshky, in the Kherson region, but presented it as the result of mediation, sources told the French newspaper Le Monde.
According to the newspaper’s sources, Moscow had long refused to open a humanitarian corridor to Oleshky but agreed in the summer of 2026 to talks between the two countries’ military intelligence services: Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) and the Main Directorate of the Russian General Staff (GRU). The two agencies already maintain regular contact on prisoner-of-war exchanges and the return of soldiers’ bodies, Le Monde reported.
After four months of negotiations, the two countries’ human rights commissioners organized the operation to evacuate civilians: Yana Lantratova for Russia and Dmytro Lubinets for Ukraine. The mission was carried out under the auspices of the White House and was presented as the result of mediation by U.S. first lady Melania Trump.
But the claim about her role should be viewed “with caution,” a source in Ukraine said, because “it’s not known exactly what role Washington played.”
Even if Melania Trump, like the UN or Pope Leo XIV, expressed concern about the fate of the residents of Oleshky, it cannot be ruled out that Kyiv and Moscow, having reached an agreement between themselves, wanted to please Donald Trump, who always jealously seeks to appear as the central figure.
“Having realized he wouldn’t get the Nobel Peace Prize himself, Trump may have decided to try to get it for Melania instead,” a source in Kyiv said.
The city of Oleshky in the Kherson region has been under Russian occupation since 2022. In recent months, a humanitarian catastrophe has unfolded there. Russia and Ukraine agreed on a ceasefire and the evacuation of civilians. During this humanitarian mission, some residents of Oleshky were taken to Ukraine at their own request, while others were taken to Russia. In total, around 700 people were evacuated from Oleshky.
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