U.S. First Lady Melania Trump said Friday that eight children displaced by the Russia-Ukraine war have been reunited with their families after her continued discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The first lady in August wrote to Putin and had her husband hand-deliver the letter when he held a summit with the Russian president in Alaska. The letter called for peace in Ukraine.
Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has resulted in Russia taking Ukrainian children out of their country so they can be raised as Russians. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has lobbied various world leaders for help reuniting children, he says were taken by Russia after the invasion began.
Speaking at the White House, the first lady said that after Putin responded in writing to her letter, they established an "open channel of communication” regarding the welfare of those children.
Her announcement came as President Donald Trump’s own efforts to broker an end to Putin’s war in Ukraine have stalled, and he repeatedly has expressed frustration over the setback, along with what he describes as his disappointment with Russia’s leader.
