The text of Melania Trump’s letter to Vladimir Putin has been revealed, showing the First Lady implored the Russian president to protect innocent children, but did not explicitly raise the plight of thousands of abducted Ukrainian minors.
US President Donald Trump hand-delivered his wife’s letter to Putin as they met in Alaska on the weekend for a historic summit that was intended to progress an end to the war in Ukraine, which began in 2022 when Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
Melania Trump’s letter did not explicitly mention Ukraine or the war.Credit: AP
In that time, Russia has been accused of forcibly transferring – or kidnapping – thousands of Ukrainian children from families and orphanages in occupied regions of Ukraine and sending them to Russia and Belarus.
Ukraine has called the abductions a war crime that rises to the United Nations definition of genocide, and also alleges stolen children are being conscripted into the Russian army when they turn 18. Previously Moscow has said it has been protecting vulnerable children from a war zone.
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