AFP/GettyUkraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky gave Donald Trump a letter of gratitude for his wife Melania, written by Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska, during their Oval Office meeting on Monday.
Zelensky said the letter was to thank Melania for raising awareness about at least 19,500 Ukrainian children his government says have been abducted by Russia since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Melania earlier sent Russian President Vladimir Putin her own letter imploring him to consider children, saying that “in protecting the innocence of these children, you will do more than serve Russia alone – you serve humanity”.
Her letter did not reference any specific children.
Over the weekend, the White House shared on social media the letter to Putin.
In it, Melania said every child dreams “of love, possibility and safety from danger”.
“Mr Putin, you can singlehandedly restore their melodic laughter,” she wrote.
Answering a reporter’s question about the letter on Monday, Trump said his wife, who felt very strongly, has a great love of children and “hates to see something like this happening”, adding the same goes for other wars.
“She would love to see this end, she says it very openly, very proudly, and with great sorrow because so many people have been killed,” he said.
Zelensky praised Melania “for her attention to one of the most painful and difficult issues of this war – the abduction of Ukrainian children by Russia,” adding “we deeply appreciate her compassion”.
“This issue lies at the heart of the war’s humanitarian tragedy – our children, broken families, the pain of separation.”
Ukraine’s president continued: “Her voice matters, and her care gives strength to this cause.”
The Ukrainian government says around 19,500 children have been deported and/or forcibly removed from their homes to Russia or Russian-occupied territories, with roughly 1,500 returned.
In 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for the alleged unlawful deportation of children.
Russia denies the accusation and says it has protected vulnerable children by moving them from a war zone for their own safety.
The return of children is part of Ukraine’s position in peace negotiations with Russia.
After Monday’s meeting of Zelensky, Trump and European leaders in the White House, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said on social media: “The human cost of this war must end.”
“And that means every single Ukrainian child abducted by Russia must be returned to their families.”
She thanked Trump for “his clear commitment today to ensuring these children are reunited with their loved ones”.
Von der Leyen was responding to a social media post from Trump, who said missing children worldwide has been an issue of importance to Melania specifically.
Speaking to the BBC in Kyiv, Valerii Krut, 72, a grandfather of four, said: “They [the Russians] abducted so many children who now have neither homeland nor parents”.
“All Ukrainians feel the pain”, he said.
And student Sofia Muravytska, 19, said that the correspondence between the two first ladies is a sign of progress.
“Ukrainian children are Ukraine’s future”, she added.
Additional reporting by Alba Morgade in Kviv.
