From Kyiv with thanks: Zelensky’s message for Melania Trump

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky turned a White House meeting into a personal moment on Monday, handing Donald Trump a letter of gratitude for Melania Trump — a gesture that underscored how the plight of abducted Ukrainian children has become a cause binding two first ladies.

Zelensky said the letter, written by Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska, was to thank Melania for her compassion and advocacy. “It’s not to you, (it’s) to your wife,” Zelensky told Trump, drawing laughter from the US President and gathered press.

The Ukrainian leader 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. Her voice matters, and her care gives strength to this cause.”

Kyiv says around 19,500 children have been forcibly removed to Russia or Russian-occupied territories since the 2022 attack, with about 1,500 returned. Russia denies wrongdoing, saying children were evacuated for their safety.

Melania’s letter to Putin, shared by the White House over the weekend, urged him to consider the plight of children. “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.

“Mr Putin, you can singlehandedly restore their melodic laughter,” she said in another passage. In her appeal, Melania also urged leaders to protect “the innocence” of children: “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. Undeniably, 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.”

“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 a pen today. It is time,” her letter continued.

Trump, answering reporters’ questions, said his wife “has a great love of children and hates to see something like this happening. 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.”

The letter exchange came days after Trump met Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, for nearly three hours of talks that ended without a ceasefire agreement. Trump said at the time there had been “great progress” but “there’s no deal until there’s a deal.”

After meeting Zelensky, Trump and the Ukrainian leader were joined at the White House by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, and several European heads of government. Von der Leyen posted: “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.”

In Kyiv, ordinary Ukrainians welcomed the symbolic correspondence. “They [the Russians] abducted so many children who now have neither homeland nor parents. All Ukrainians feel the pain,” said Valerii Krut, 72, a grandfather of four. Nineteen-year-old student Sofia Muravytska added: “Ukrainian children are Ukraine’s future.”