FILE - First lady Melania Trump, left, watches as President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin welcome each other at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland, July 16, 2018, prior to Trump's and Putin's one-on-one meeting. (Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
August 16, 2025 - 3:37 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) — Melania Trump took the unique step of crafting a letter that calls for peace in Ukraine, having her husband President Donald Trump hand-deliver it to Russian President Vladimir Putin during their Friday meeting in Alaska.
The letter did not specifically name Ukraine, which Putin's forces invaded in 2022, but beseeched him to think of children and “an innocence which stands above geography, government, and ideology.” Nor did the American first lady discuss the fighting other than to say to Putin that he could “singlehandedly restore” the “melodic laughter” of children who have been caught in the conflict.
“In protecting the innocence of these children, you will do more than serve Russia alone — you serve humanity itself,” she wrote on White House stationery.
A copy of the letter was first obtained by Fox News Digital and later posted on social media by supporters of the U.S. president, including Attorney General Pam Bondi.
The first lady said that Putin could help these children with the stroke of a pen.
Putin's invasion of Ukraine has resulted in Russia taking Ukrainian children out of their country so that they can be raised as Russian. The Associated Press documented the grabbing of Ukrainian children in 2022, after which the International Criminal Court said it had issued an arrest warrant for Putin for war crimes, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine.
News from © The Associated Press, 2025