Melania Trump says eight children reunited with families after talks with Putin

Melania Trump announced on Friday that eight children displaced by the Russia-Ukraine war have been reunited with their families following ongoing talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In August, the first lady wrote to Mr Putin and had her husband President Donald Trump hand-deliver the letter when he held a summit with the Russian president in Alaska.

Mr Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has resulted in Russia taking Ukrainian children out of their country so they can be raised as Russian, it is alleged.

The first lady, speaking at the White House on Friday, said that after Mr Putin responded to her letter they established an “open channel of communication” regarding the welfare of those children.

“We have agreed to co-operate with each other for the benefit of all people involved in this war,” she said.

Both sides have participated in several back-channel meetings and calls over the past three months, and one of her representatives has been working directly with Mr Putin’s team to “ensure the safe reunification of children with their families”, she said.

Mrs Trump said the issue of the children is important to her.

“For the past three months, both sides have participated in several back-channel meetings and calls, all in good faith,” she said.

“In fact, eight children have been rejoined with their families during the past 24 hours,” she said. “Each child has lived in turmoil because of the war in Ukraine.”

Three of the eight children were separated from their parents and “displaced” to Russia because of frontline fighting, Mrs Trump said.

The other five were separated from family members across borders because of the conflict, including a girl who has gone from Ukraine to Russia, she said.

Mrs Trump said she also raised concerns about children who were minors “at the time they were displaced by the war” but have since reached adulthood and currently live in Russia.

She said that their safe return requires “co-ordinated assistance” and that Russia has agreed to “rejoin individuals who have turned 18 within a short period of time”.

Reunification efforts continue, she added, and plans were under way for more children to rejoin their families in the “immediate future”.

“I hope peace will come soon,” the first lady said. “It will begin with our children.”

Mrs Trump’s announcement came as Mr Trump’s own efforts to broker an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine have stalled, and he has repeatedly expressed frustration over the setback along with what he describes as his disappointment with Russia’s leader.

The Associated Press documented the taking of Ukrainian children in 2022, after which the International Criminal Court said it had issued an arrest warrant for Mr Putin for war crimes, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine.