Melania Trump Reveals Ongoing Talks with Putin Over Ukrainian War-Displaced Children

Washington, D.C. — First Lady Melania Trump said this week that she has maintained a direct “open channel of communication” with Russian President Vladimir Putin to address the reunification of Ukrainian children separated from their families due to the ongoing war.

The initiative, which marks her most substantive public policy effort since returning to the White House, focuses on reuniting children who were displaced across borders or relocated inside Russia during the conflict.

Speaking at a closed-door roundtable event in Washington, Melania Trump said her office has engaged in “several backchannel meetings and calls” with Putin’s representatives over the past three months, with both parties reportedly acting “in good faith.”

“President Putin and I have had an open channel of communication regarding the welfare of children for the past three months,” she said. “We agreed to cooperate with each other for the benefit of all people involved.”

Eight Children Reunited, More Under Review

The First Lady claimed that eight Ukrainian children were reunited with their families in the past 24 hours as part of the ongoing initiative. According to her remarks, three of the children had been separated during frontline combat and relocated within Russia, while five others had lost contact with relatives across national borders since the early phase of the war.

Melania Trump said the reunification process included cross-verification of documents and photographs provided by both Russian and Ukrainian authorities. The information, she added, was confirmed by U.S. intelligence officials and supported by reports from the Ukrainian Parliament’s Human Rights Commissioner and Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights.

“This is an important initiative,” she stated. “My ongoing mission is two-fold — to ensure a transparent flow of information surrounding all children who have fallen victim to this war, and to facilitate regular communication with their families until each child returns home.”

Cases Involving Young Adults Also Addressed

The First Lady also acknowledged that talks have expanded to include former minors, children who were under 18 when they were displaced but have since come of age. She claimed that Russian officials agreed to facilitate the reunification of these individuals “within a short period of time.”

While she emphasized humanitarian goals, the issue remains deeply political. The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for President Putin in 2024, accusing him of orchestrating the unlawful deportation of children from occupied Ukrainian regions into Russia — an action widely condemned as a war crime.

Melania Trump Steps into Spotlight

Melania Trump has largely remained outside of the public eye since her husband’s return to the presidency. This initiative marks a rare — and notable — reentry into foreign policy discourse.

The first direct communication reportedly began following Donald Trump’s meeting with Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, in August. Melania later sent a letter to the Russian president, urging humanitarian cooperation.

“A simple yet profound concept, Mr. Putin, as I am sure you agree, is that each generation’s descendants begin their lives with a purity — an innocence which stands above geography, government, and ideology,” the letter read. “It is time for the Ukrainian children to return home.”

Donald Trump: Melania ‘Keeps Me Honest’ on Russia

President Trump has also spoken about his wife’s growing influence on his approach to Russia. In remarks to reporters earlier this year, he described moments when she called attention to continued Russian attacks in Ukraine even as diplomatic talks unfolded.

“There’s times I’d get home and say, ‘First Lady, I had the most wonderful talk with Vladimir. I think we’re finished.’ And then I’ll turn on the television — or she’ll say to me, ‘Wow, that’s strange because they just bombed a nursing home,’” Trump recalled. “I’d say, ‘What?’”

Whether Melania Trump’s efforts will lead to broader cooperation between Washington and Moscow on humanitarian grounds remains uncertain, but the initiative signals a rare cross-border dialogue at a time when official relations are otherwise near frozen.