West Palm Beach, Florida - First Lady Melania Trump recently, for the first time, publicly addressed the localized ceasefire she claims to have orchestrated between Russia and Ukraine.
On Saturday, Melania and President Donald Trump traveled to their home state of Florida to cast their early ballots for the upcoming midterm elections, and took questions from reporters afterwards.
Of the ceasefire deal – which saw Russia and Ukraine agreeing to halt violence in the torn city of Oleshk to allow humanitarian aid in – the first lady explained that she spoke to leaders of both countries, and the rest was history.
"We talked. We signed the agreement," she said.
She also, for the first time, publicly recognized Pope Leo XVI for his role, a notable detail she and her husband have consistently omitted.
"It is great to have Pope's support, and they are starting a ceasefire on October 27, and I hope everything goes as it's planned," she told the outlet.
President Trump says Melania is "better than the professionals"
Last Friday, the White House and the Office of the First Lady shared a press release claiming Melania personally brokered the ceasefire.
But the Vatican told Reuters that Pope Leo XIV had called Russian President Vladimir Putin on October 16 – exactly a week before Melania's announcement – and "asked him to arrange a ceasefire to let aid and food into the town."
The Pope made a similar call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy three days later.
Melania the president have since been facing accusations of trying to take sole credit for the ceasefire.
President Trump has also been pushing the idea that he may deploy Melania to do more work abroad - following the announcement on Friday, he entertained a question from a reporter about deploying her for future peace talks, describing it as "not the worst idea I've ever heard."
On Saturday, he revisited the idea, saying of his wife, "I think she's doing better than the professionals right now. She got a ceasefire!"