IANS (Photo source: X/@FLOTUS)
Washington, August 17 (IANS) US First Lady Melania Trump has penned a heartfelt "peace letter" to Russian President Vladimir Putin, urging him to safeguard children and future generations by bringing an end to the war in Ukraine.
According to media reports, the letter was personally delivered to Putin by US President Donald Trump ahead of his summit with the Russian leader at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday.
In her emotional appeal, Melania highlighted the devastating impact of the conflict on children, describing them as "caught in the crosshairs" of violence.
Her letter opened with a moving line, "Dear President Putin, Every child shares the same quiet dreams in their heart, whether born randomly into a nation’s rustic countryside or a magnificent city-centre. They dream of love, possibility, and safety from danger."
The First Lady wrote that protecting future generations must be the shared responsibility of both parents and world leaders.
"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," she noted.
This marks Melania Trump's second known involvement in US foreign policy related to Russia and Ukraine.
She had earlier played a role in convincing her husband to strengthen military aid to Kyiv and to take a firmer position in dealings with Moscow over the long-running conflict.
Calling children "a purity, an innocence which stands above geography, government, and ideology," Melania appealed directly to the Russian President.
"Mr. Putin, you can singlehandedly restore their melodic laughter. In protecting the innocence of these children, you will do more than serve Russia alone, you serve humanity itself," she added.
The letter ended with an urgent call for immediate action, urging Putin not to delay.
"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 concluded.
The letter was handed to Putin shortly before the Alaska summit between the two leaders.
Meanwhile, Trump has described his meeting with the Russian President as "extremely productive," though he clarified that no formal agreement had been reached.
Both leaders spoke positively about their discussions, even as no signed deal was announced.
Additionally, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to visit Washington on Monday to hold talks with Trump.
Zelensky's Chief of Staff thanks Melania Trump for writing to Putin about protecting Ukrainian children
Andriy Yermak, the Chief of Staff for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, has thanked the US' First Lady Melania Trump for calling on Russia's President Vladimir Putin to save deported Ukrainian children.
"The return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia should be a key condition for any peace agreement," Yermak wrote in a post on social media on Saturday.
Yermak said that he was "grateful" to Melania Trump for her letter to Russian President Putin, in which she called on the leader to "singlehandedly restore" children's "melodic laughter".
More than 35,000 Ukrainian children have been abducted during the war and taken to over 100 locations in Russia and Russian-occupied territory, according to the Ukraine Conflict Observatory, an effort led by Yale's Humanitarian Research Lab.
Melania Trump had penned a letter to Putin, which was hand-delivered by US President Donald Trump in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday, calling on him to protect children and "nurture the next generation's hope" as his war on Ukraine continues.
"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. 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.
Melania Trump said Putin "can singlehandedly restore children's "melodic laughter", adding 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."
"Every child shares the same quiet dreams in their heart, whether born randomly into a nation's rustic countryside or a magnificent city-centre. They dream of love, possibility, and safety from danger," she wrote in a letter, dated August 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.
President Trump delivered the letter to Putin ahead of their high-stakes summit in Alaska, a White House official told the media on Saturday.
Melania Trump was not at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson near Anchorage, where the nearly three-hour-long huddle between US 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 criticised 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.
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.
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.”
