Melania Trump confirms ongoing talks with Putin's team on Ukrainian children
First Lady Melania Trump confirmed on Wednesday that she maintains contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin's team to secure the return of more Ukrainian children from Russia.
"I'm working on it, and we're in the process," she told reporters at the White House. "I hope we'll have success very soon."
Fifteen children have returned to Ukraine since Trump launched her awareness efforts, including seven in December. The initiative began in August when President Donald Trump personally handed Putin a letter from his wife during a leaders' summit in Alaska.
A White House East Wing spokesperson noted that communication channels have stayed open since the letter's delivery. In October, Trump revealed she and Putin had kept an "open channel" on child welfare, with her representative engaging directly with Putin's staff. Eight children were repatriated then, including three displaced to Russia amid frontline fighting. In December, Russia's children's rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova confirmed seven more returns—six boys and one girl—and thanked the First Lady for her steadfast commitment.
Ukraine accuses Russia of abducting at least 19,000 children since the February 2022 invasion, transporting them to Russian-controlled areas without family or guardian consent. Russia denies child abductions, claiming protective evacuations from combat zones.
Trump's announcement coincided with a second round of U.S.-brokered Russian-Ukrainian peace talks in Abu Dhabi. Ukraine's lead negotiator Rustem Umerov called the first day's discussions "substantive and productive," though no breakthroughs emerged.
The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March 2023 over alleged war crimes tied to the illegal deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children; Lvova-Belova was also named. Ukraine's First Lady Olena Zelenska reported in December that 1,859 children had been repatriated overall, many requiring psychological rehabilitation for trauma from beatings, indoctrination, and separation.
Trump, who has kept a low profile during her husband's second term, also met Wednesday with two freed American-Israeli hostages at the White House.
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