Zelensky awards Melania Trump top state honor for role in Oleshky truce

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has awarded Melania Trump, wife of US President Donald Trump, a state decoration for her role in brokering a localized truce in the Kherson region.

According to the Ukrainian presidential office, Zelensky issued a presidential decree Wednesday (local time) conferring on Melania Trump the Order of Princess Olga, First Class.

The decoration is awarded to women who have made outstanding contributions in the fields of science, education, culture or charitable work.

The decree said Melania Trump had made "a significant personal contribution to humanitarian support for Ukraine" and acknowledged her efforts to help children who had been displaced or forcibly transferred from Russian-occupied territories.

A localized truce brokered by Melania Trump took effect in Oleshky, a Russian-occupied city in southern Ukraine's Kherson region, from Oct. 23 to Nov. 1, allowing about 800 isolated residents to evacuate. The city had long been cut off from food and medical supplies, leaving its residents in a survival crisis.

The truce was the longest recorded since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.