PALM BEACH — President Donald Trump said the United States will do business with both Ukraine and Russia after their war ends, speaking to reporters on Saturday after casting his midterm ballot alongside First Lady Melania Trump in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump said Washington would like to get back to a point where Russia and Ukraine make a deal, and that the US would then be able to do business with both, ANI reported.

Source: ANI via Latestly, Oct 25, 2026

The First Lady used the same appearance to firm up the timeline of the localised ceasefire she brokered this week for the Russian-occupied Ukrainian town of Oleshky. She said it was great to have the Pope's support, that Russia and Ukraine are starting the ceasefire on October 27, and that she hoped everything goes as planned, adding that the two sides had been talked with — Presidents Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy — and that agreements were signed, ANI reported. That October 27 date matches what Kyiv and Moscow said earlier in the week; the White House statement had initially given October 29. Trump, reacting to his wife's role, said he thought she was doing better than the professionals right now.

Source: ANI via Latestly, Oct 25, 2026

The Associated Press, reporting the same polling-place appearance in West Palm Beach, said Trump was also asked about the war with Iran and replied that he may have to finish it off, or Iran may make a deal, but that either way the US wins. Asked whether she might travel to Ukraine, Melania Trump told reporters, in AP's account: 'We will see.' AAP, citing the Oleshky agreement, reported that both sides said the ceasefire would go into effect on October 27, allowing aid deliveries and evacuations through humanitarian corridors, and that Zelenskiy said negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the United States had agreed to technical-level meetings in the first half of November in Abu Dhabi.

Source: Associated Press via Chelmsford City News, Oct 25, 2026

What is solid

  • Trump told reporters in Palm Beach on Saturday that the US will do business with both Ukraine and Russia after the war ends, ANI reported; AP independently reported the same voting appearance.
  • Melania Trump said the Oleshky ceasefire starts on October 27, with the Pope's support and agreements signed — matching the date Kyiv and Moscow gave, AAP reported.
  • AAP reported Zelenskiy said technical-level talks among Ukraine, Russia and the US were agreed for the first half of November in Abu Dhabi.

What is only claimed

  • Post-war US business with Russia is a stated intention, not a policy in force: no deal ending the war exists yet, sanctions remain in place, and neither Kyiv nor Moscow has confirmed any post-war trade arrangement with Washington. The Oleshky truce itself has not yet begun or been tested on the ground.

For now the sequence on the table is narrow and dated: a single-town humanitarian truce from October 27, technical talks in November, and — only if a wider deal follows — the normalisation Trump described at the ballot box. The midterm vote itself is on November 3.

Source: AAP (Reuters), Oct 24, 2026