Melania Trump Reveals Letter from Vladimir Putin About Ukrainian Children in Surprise White House Address
In an unexpected White House announcement, First Lady Melania Trump revealed that she had received a personal letter from Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding children displaced by the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Speaking to reporters at 11 a.m. ET, Melania said Putin had shown a “willingness to engage with me directly” on the matter a statement that drew widespread attention both in Washington and abroad.
According to the First Lady, this development followed a letter she had sent to the Russian leader in August during his Alaska summit with President Donald Trump. The exchange reportedly came amid renewed concerns about the President’s recent unexplained medical visit.
“Since then, President Putin and I have maintained an open channel of communication focused on the welfare of Ukrainian children,” Melania said. “Over the past three months, both sides have engaged in multiple back-channel discussions conducted in good faith.”
She confirmed that eight Ukrainian children who were previously relocated to Russia have now been reunited with their families in Ukraine.
Last year, Leonid Pasechnik, the Kremlin-appointed head of the Luhansk People’s Republic, announced a program to “host” more than 12,000 children from eastern Ukraine. Around the same time, a Russian initiative titled “Useful Vacations” invited 40,000 Ukrainian children to attend summer camps across Russia, some located as far away as Vladivostok, near the North Korean border.
Experts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) have described these camps as part of a broader campaign aimed at deporting and re-educating Ukrainian children, warning that such actions may fall under Article 6 of the Rome Statute which classifies the forcible transfer of children as a potential act of genocide.
Reports suggest that many children in these facilities undergo “Russification,” a process that bans the Ukrainian language and enforces Russian cultural education and patriotic indoctrination. Some children are allegedly taken to military-style training programs or made to visit symbolic national sites.
The ISW stated, “Russian authorities are likely to continue expanding these deportation efforts, disguising them as educational or cultural exchanges. Despite being presented as humanitarian initiatives, these actions constitute serious violations of international law.”
It is believed that several children from occupied Kharkiv were taken to camps in Vladivostok, more than 6,000 miles from their homes.
Melania’s announcement marks one of the most surprising moments of her time in the White House, following recent reports about the Trumps’ separate living arrangements and renewed speculation about the couple’s private life.
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