Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has awarded the country's highest honor for women to US First Lady Melania Trump.
The Order of Princess Olga, 1st Class, was conferred on Melania Trump for her "significant personal contribution to humanitarian support for Ukraine," according to the presidential decree.
The award follows the end of a ceasefire in Ukraine's southern Kherson region, which allowed the evacuation of several hundred people from the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky.
The White House said Melania Trump had "independently initiated engagement between the two warring nations and successfully secured a ceasefire," adding that the achievement "marks an unprecedented diplomatic initiative by an American First Lady."
Both Russian and Ukrainian sides repeatedly thanked Melania Trump for brokering the ceasefire, though neither elaborated on the nature or extent of her involvement.
Russian and Ukrainian delegations are due to meet at the White House on Thursday at Melania Trump's invitation. The delegations include Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets and his Russian counterpart Yana Lantratova, as well as Ukrainian MP Davyd Arakhamia and Russian senior official Kirill Dmitriev.
Lubinets and Lantratova traveled together into Oleshky last week in an unusual show of cooperation between officials from the two warring sides.
Arakhamia, who heads Zelensky's party in parliament and has previously served on Ukraine's negotiating team during peace talks with Russia, was responsible for informal contact between the White House and Moscow during the ceasefire, according to diplomatic sources cited by Ukrainian media. He has confirmed he will take part in Thursday's talks.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the Russian delegation will consist of Lantratova and Dmitriev, a businessman close to the Kremlin who has frequently participated in US-brokered ceasefire negotiations.
No details of what the White House event will entail have been shared. "There are important meetings ahead," Lubinets wrote in a social media post while announcing he was on his way to the United States.
On Thursday, Melania Trump is also scheduled to deliver remarks on the Oleshky ceasefire at 11:00 local time (16:00 GMT), according to the White House website.
Zelensky's decree also cited Melania Trump's broader humanitarian work, including her efforts on behalf of Ukrainian children affected by the war, as additional grounds for the award.
Melania Trump has largely remained discreet on foreign policy matters. In 2025, however, she said an "open channel of communication" had been established with Russian President Vladimir Putin, enabling Ukrainian children displaced by the war to be reunited with their families.
Earlier this year, the United Nations said the deportation and forcible transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia constitutes a crime against humanity and a war crime. According to Ukraine, almost 20,000 children have been illegally sent to Russia and Belarus since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.
Russian, Ukrainian, and American representatives are also set to meet in Abu Dhabi next week in the first trilateral meeting since February. US envoy Steve Witkoff said on Monday that the talks will focus on postwar security agreements and de-escalation.
