Melania Trump optimistic about bringing Ukrainian children home after Putin's response

Melania Trump said that Putin had reacted to her letter, in which she called for the reunification of Ukrainian and Russian children with their parents. She also noted that her representative is currently maintaining regular contact with the Russian side on this matter.

Melania Trump indicated that she had received a letter from Putin and that her representative continues to coordinate with Russian officials to work on reuniting the children.

She emphasized that the issue is particularly important to her and that the most valuable part of this work is seeing the happiness of children and their parents after reunification.

She added that everyone wants to be with their own children and expressed hope that she would soon be able to announce a major success in this effort.

Deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia

The deportation of children from Ukraine after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion became one of the reasons the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova.

Since the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has forcibly taken more than 19,500 children from Ukraine. Just over a thousand have been returned to their homeland, while the rest remain under Russian control or in conditions of deportation.

Melania Trump’s letter to Putin and its impact

In July, the US First Lady sent a letter to Vladimir Putin, urging the protection of Ukrainian children who had been deported to Russia. This opened a channel of communication with the Kremlin to facilitate the return of the children to Ukraine.

In December, seven Ukrainian children were returned from Russia to Ukraine, an outcome that was facilitated with the involvement of First Lady Melania Trump.