Why first lady Olena Zelenska wrote a letter to Melania Trump

Ukraine President Volodimir Zelenski gave Donald Trump a letter of thanks for his wife Melania, written by the first lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska after Melania stood up to protect the children.

Zelenski thanked Melania for raising awareness of at least 19,500 Ukrainian children, whom the government tells him that they were abducted by Russia after his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

His comments come after Melania sent Russian President Vladimir Putin his own letter, which called him to consider children, saying that “to protect the innocence of these children, you will do more than to serve Russia only – you serve humanity.”

Her letter did not refer to specific children.

During the weekend the White House Shared on social media The letter to Putin.

In it, Melania said that every child dreams “for love, opportunity and safety from danger.”

“Putin, you can restore their melodic laughs once,” she wrote.

In response to the reporter’s question about the letter on Monday, Trump said that his wife, who feels very strong, has a great love for children and “hates to see something like that, adding the same to other wars.

“She would be glad to see this region. She says it very openly, very proud and with great grief, because so many people were killed,” he said.

Zelenski praised Melania “for her attention to one of the most painful and difficult questions of this war – the distraction of Ukrainian children from Russia,” adding “we deeply appreciate her compassion.”

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

The President of Ukraine continued: “Her voice matters, and her care gives her strength to this cause.”

Ukrainian government says about 19,500 children have been deported and/or forcibly removed from their homes in Russia or areas occupied by Russia, with approximately 1500 returned.

In 2023 For the alleged illegal deportation of childrenS

Russia denies the prosecution and says it has defended vulnerable children by moving them from a war zone for its own safety.

The return of the children is part of Ukraine’s position in peace talks with Russia.

Following the Monday meeting in Zelenski, Trump and European leaders in the White House, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on social media: “The human price of this war is to end.”

“And that means that every Ukrainian child abducted by Russia must be returned to their families.”

She thanked Trump for “his clear commitment today to guarantee that these children reunite with their loved ones.”

Von der Leyen was responding to a Trump social media publication, who said the missing children around the world were important to Melania.