Reported by BBC World
The US first lady will host Russian and Ukrainian representatives at the White House on Thursday
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has given the country's highest award for women to the US First Lady, Melania Trump.
The Order of Princess Olga, 1st Class, was awarded to Melania Trump for her "significant personal contribution to humanitarian support for Ukraine", according to the presidential decree.
More from the original report
It comes after the end of ceasefire in Ukraine's southern region of Kherson, which allowed for the evacuation of several hundred people from the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky .
Russian and Ukrainian delegations - made up of ombudsmen who were involved in the evacuation mission as well as senior officials - are due to meet at the White House on Thursday on Melania Trump's invitation.
The White House said that Melania Trump had "independently initiated engagement between the two warring nations and successfully secured a ceasefire".
"This achievement marks an unprecedented diplomatic initiative by an American First Lady", it added.
Both the Russian and Ukrainian sides repeatedly thanked Melania Trump for brokering the ceasefire, though neither elaborated on the nature or extent of her involvement.
The delegations travelling to the White House on Thursday will 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 travelled together into Oleshky last week, in an unusual show of cooperation between Russian and Ukrainian officials.
Arakhamia, a Ukrainian MP who heads Zelensky's party in parliament, has previously been part of the Ukrainian negotiating team during peace talks with Russia.
He was responsible for informal contact between the White House and Moscow during the ceasefire, according to diplomatic sources quoted by Ukrainian media, and has confirmed he will take part in Thursday's talks.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian delegation will be made up of Lantratova and Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian businessman close to the Kremlin who has frequently taken part in US-brokered ceasefire talks.
Although both Dmitriev and Arakhamia are veteran participants in high-level peace negotiations, meetings involving such senior representatives…