First Lady Melania Trump penned a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin in which she raised concerns about the plight of children throughout Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Every child shares the same quiet dreams in their heart, whether born randomly into a nation’s rustic countryside or a magnificent city-center. They dream of love, possibility, and safety from danger,” Melania Trump wrote in a letter, dated Aug. 15, to the Russian leader.
“As parents, it is our duty to nurture the next generation’s hope. As leaders, the responsibility to sustain our children extends beyond the comfort of a few,” the first lady said in the one-page letter. “Undeniably, we must strive to paint a dignity-filled world for all – so that every soul may wake to peace, and so that the future itself is perfectly guarded.”
President Trump delivered the letter to Putin ahead of their high-stakes summit in Alaska, a White House official told The Hill’s sister network NewsNation on Saturday. Melania Trump was not at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson near Anchorage, where the nearly three-hour-long huddle between U.S. and Russian officials took place.
Since the start of the war in late February 2022, Russia has abducted thousands of Ukrainian children, forcibly transferring them to Russia, attempting to assign them Russian citizenship and have them attend schools in Russia.
The United Nations hammered Russia in March for the suffering the children in Ukraine have endured because of the war, which has been ongoing for about three-and-a-half years. Russia has previously argued that it has been shielding kids from the conflict areas.
“A simple yet profound concept, Mr. Putin, as I am sure you agree, is that each generation’s descendants begin their lives with a purity – an innocence which stands above geography, government, and ideology,” the first lady wrote in the letter.
“Yet in today’s world, some children are forced to carry a quiet laughter, untouched by the darkness around them – a silent defiance against the forces that can potentially claim their future,” Melania Trump said. “Mr. Putin, you can singlehandedly restore their melodic laughter.”
More than 19,000 children were deported from Ukraine to Russia, adding that the actual number could be far higher, according to a Ukrainian government tracker.
The first lady said that in “protecting the innocence of these children, you will do more than serve Russia alone-you serve humanity itself. Such a bold idea transcends all human division, and you, Mr. Putin, are fit to implement this vision with a stroke of the pen today.”
“It is time,” she added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters on Tuesday, ahead of the Trump-Putin summit, that Moscow has been stonewalling talks on the return of Ukrainian children.
Ukraine’s leader said that while occasional transfers have taken place, with the assistance of other nations, Kyiv has not been able to strike a wide-ranging agreement with Russia on the matter.
“That is why we wanted to get certain matters settled in this trilateral track: ceasefire, an all-for-all exchange, and the return of children,” Zelensky said. “This is something everyone benefits from: President Trump benefits, the Russians lose nothing, the Ukrainians lose nothing. It’s a fair compromise.”
