The president has posted the full letter from First Lady Melania Trump that he hand-delivered to Russia’s Vladimir Putin at Friday’s summit in Alaska regarding the fate of the Ukraine war.
In the letter, which Putin reportedly read “immediately” in front of delegates at the summit, the first lady appealed the Russian leader to remember the innocence of the children caught in the midst of the fighting.
“Every child shares the same quiet dreams in their heart, whether born randomly into a nation’s rustic countryside or magnificent city-center,” the letter begins. “They dream of love, possibility, and safety from danger.”
“As parents, it is our duty to nurture the next generation’s hope,” the letter continues. “As leaders, the responsibility to sustain our children extends beyond the comfort of a few. Undeniably, we must strive to paint a dignity-filled world for all — so that every soul may wake to peace, and so that the future itself is perfectly guarded.”
“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 adds.
“Yet in today’s world, some children are forced to carry a quiet laughter, untouched by the darkness around them — a silent defiance against the forces that can potentially claim their future,” the first lady wrote. “Mr. Putin, you can singlehandedly restore their melodic laughter.”
The message concludes with an urgent appeal to end the war.
“In protecting the innocence of these children, you will do more than serve Russia alone — you serve humanity itself,” Trump wrote. “Such a bold idea transcends all human division, and you, Mr. Putin, are fit to implement this vision with the stroke of the pen today. It is time.”
President Trump revealed the letter on Truth Social, after making multiple posts criticizing reaction from the media and Democrats to the Alaska summit, which did not result in a deal to end the Ukraine war.
Senator Chris Murphy, the ranking Democratic member of the Foreign Affairs subcommittee on European security cooperation, said the VIP welcome for Putin gave the Russian “everything he wanted” and was an “embarrassment for the United States.”
«It’s incredible how the Fake News violently distorts the TRUTH when it comes to me,» Trump wrote on Truth Social Sunday. «There is NOTHING I can say or do that would lead them to write or report honestly about me.»
«If I got Russia to give up Moscow as part of the Deal, the Fake News, and their PARTNER, the Radical Left Democrats, would say I made a terrible mistake and a very bad deal,” he wrote in another.
Following the Alaska summit, both Trump and Putin claimed the controversial meeting had been “productive” and a “success,” though little concrete information has emerged about what the two leaders discussed behind closed doors.
“We had an extremely productive meeting, and many points were agreed to,” Trump told reporters. “There are just a very few that are left. Some are not that significant. One is probably the most significant, but we have a very good chance of getting there. We didn’t get there, but we have a very good chance of getting there.”
Speaking to Fox News’s Sean Hannity after the Friday summit, Trump said both Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky would like him to be present at a potential second meeting.
“They both want me there, and I’ll be there,” he said.
On Sunday, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said Putin agreed to allow the U.S. and its European allies to offer Ukraine a NATO-like security guarantee.
“We were able to win the following concession: That the United States could offer Article 5-like protection, which is one of the real reasons why Ukraine wants to be in Nato,» Witkoff told CNN.
The reported concession “was the first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that,” Witkoff added, calling the step “game-changing.”
The envoy also signaled that the fate of the occupied Donbas region, which Putin reportedly demands Ukraine cede to Russia to end the invasion, will be a major topic during continued discussions around ending the war.
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky is set to meet with Trump Monday at the White House. A delegation of European leaders is also attending including UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, France’s leader Emmanuel Macron, Germany’s Friedrich Merz, Finland’s Alexander Stubb, EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and NATO chief Mark Rutte.
