Why the first lady Olena Zelenska wrote a letter to Melania Trump

The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, gave Donald Trump a letter of gratitude for his wife Melania, written by the first lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska, after Melania pleaded to protect the children.

Zelensky thanked Melania for raising awareness of at least 19,500 Ukrainian children that her government says it was removed by Russia since its large -scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

His comments come after Melania sent Russian President Vladimir Putin his own letter imploring to consider the children, saying that “by protecting the innocence of these children, you will do more than serving Russia alone – you serve humanity”.

His letter did not refer to any specific child.

During the weekend, the White House shared the letter to Putin on social networks.

In this document, Melania said that each child dreams of “love, possibility and safety of danger”.

“Mr. Putin, you can restore their melodic laugh alone,” she wrote.

Answering the journalist’s question on the letter on Monday, Trump said that his wife, who felt very strongly, has a great love for children and “hates seeing something like that”, adding that the same thing goes for other wars.

“She would love to see this end, she says it very openly, very proudly, and with great pain because so many people have been killed,” he said.

Zelensky praised Melania “for his attention to one of the most painful and difficult questions of this war – the kidnapping of Ukrainian children by Russia”, adding “we deeply appreciate his compassion”.

“This question is at the heart of the humanitarian tragedy of war – our children, broken families, the pain of separation.”

The president of Ukraine continued: “His voice counts, and his care gives the strength of this cause.”

The Ukrainian government claims that around 19,500 children were expelled and / or forcibly withdrawn from their homes to Russia or the territories occupied by Russia, with around 1,500 returned.

In 2023, the International Criminal Court published an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Commissioner of the Rights of Children Maria Lvova-Belova for the alleged illegal deportation of children.

Russia denies the accusation and says it has protected vulnerable children by moving them from a war zone for their own security.

The return of children is part of the position of Ukraine in peace negotiations with Russia.

After the meeting on Monday of Zelensky, Trump and European leaders at the White House, the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said on social networks: “The human cost of this war must end.”

“And this means that every Ukrainian child kidnapped by Russia must be returned to their family.”

She thanked Trump for “her clear commitment today to make sure that these children are united with their loved ones”.

Von der Leyen responded to a publication on Trump’s social networks, who said that the children who missing in the world were a question of importance for Melania in particular.