First lady Melania Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to her letter with concerns about child victims of the Russian-Ukrainian war.
She made the announcement on Friday, saying that after an “open channel of communication” with Putin, Ukrainian children displaced during the war had been reunited with their families.
The first lady's “peace letter” was delivered to Putin personally during his visit to Alaska in August.
President Donald Trump shared parts of the letter on social media. In it, the first lady implores Putin to protect the children, writing that doing so would “serve more than just serve Russia” and “serve humanity itself.”
“In the last 24 hours, eight children have been reunited with their families,” Mrs. Trump said, surrounded by American flags behind a podium at the White House.
“Every child lived in turmoil because of the war in Ukraine.”
Of the eight children, three were separated from their families and moved to Russia due to fighting on the front lines, the first lady said.
Another young girl displaced by the conflict has now been returned from Ukraine to Russia, Ms. Trump says.
Both Ukraine and Russia facilitated the children's reunification with their families, the first lady said, adding that she was provided with a detailed report with photographs and the “personalities and circumstances” of each child.
According to her, the US government “confirmed the facts.”
Mrs Trump said she had “learned a lot about this issue” since her letter was first delivered to Putin. According to her, he responded in writing.
In her letter, the First Lady wrote, “Every child shares the same quiet dreams in their hearts… They dream of love, opportunity, and safety from danger.”
The announcement marks a positive development in her work advocating for children's rights in the White House, which began during President Trump's first term.
In January 2021, she launched the BE BEST initiative, which the White House describes as an awareness campaign focused on the well-being of children around the world.
Earlier this year, the First Lady led a congressional effort to pass revenge pornography legislation called the Take It Down Act. After signing the bill, she said it was “a powerful statement that we are united in protecting the dignity, privacy and safety of our children.”
According to the Ukrainian government, since February 2022, at least 19,500 Ukrainian children have been deported and forcibly moved from their homes to Russia and Russian-occupied territories.
Only 1,605 have returned home so far, according to the government's Children of War database.
The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his children's rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova in 2023 on charges of illegally deporting children.
Russia denies the accusations and says it protected the children by removing them from the war zone for their safety.
