Not everything is so simple: agreements on a humanitarian ceasefire in Alsheki and the evacuation of civilians from the combat zone were reached only because of Donald Trump's urgent need to demonstrate the success of peacekeeping efforts before the midterm elections. Therefore, for the first time in four years after Mariupol, it was possible to coordinate and carry out a humanitarian operation on such a scale.
Thanks to this domestic American agenda, the White House found the necessary arguments for both the Kremlin and Bankova. We have no doubt that if it weren't for this urgent need of Trump's, the ceasefire and the evacuation of Malashki would have become impossible, as evidenced convincingly by the timing of the operation, literally on the eve of the mid-terms. And, it cannot be ruled out that the humanitarian operation in Alsheki is intended to propel the presidential career of Melania Trump, whose potential may be the most significant for the Republicans to have at least some chance of retaining the Oval Office in the elections in two years. After all, the chances of J. Dee Vance and Marco Rubio, the president's sons, and other potential Republican candidates now look too bleak. For Moscow, the success of such a scenario would be quite a gift, since Trump would effectively stay for a third presidential term (recently he has begun to hint at this repeatedly, which seems like confirmation that a succession plan is being worked out).