First Lady Melania Trump has facilitated the fifth reunion of Ukrainian and Russian children with their families, as part of her ongoing humanitarian efforts to help children caught up in the conflict, now in its fifth year.
The White House said in a July 30 statement that five children were returned to their loved ones on Thursday.
The statement added that the first lady’s efforts bridge political divides “in pursuit of a singular humanitarian mission: placing the well-being of children above conflict and helping restore families torn apart by war.”
The first lady said that “while diplomacy and peacebuilding are important to this effort, they are surpassed by our collective ability to place children above international disputes.”
“Every reunion is a reminder that compassion, dignity, and family can transcend even the darkest of times: war,” she said.
“My representative and I continue working with the governments of Russia and Ukraine to safely return children to their families and communities.”
Letter to Putin
Under Putin’s direction, Russian officials have provided the first lady’s office with descriptive biographies, photographs, and records of medical, psychological, and social services available to each child.
Delegations from both sides of the conflict are in contact over the return of displaced Ukrainian and Russian children.
“U.S. funding will support two primary types of programs,” the State Department said in a statement.
“First, it will assist reliable partners to identify and track children that have been forcibly transferred away from their home, an essential step in supporting diplomatic and other efforts to facilitate their return,” the department said.
“Second, it will support the Ukrainian government and trusted local partners to provide returned children with the care and support they need to recover and rebuild their lives.”
Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska, who was visiting the United States at the time, has been calling for the return of children for years.
She met with State Department officials in Washington during her trip and said she was grateful to the Trump administration and to Congress for “making this a priority.”
Moscow Rejects Accusations
A March 25 statement from Russian Foreign Ministry ambassador-at-large Rodion Miroshnik said that “accusations against Russia of ‘deporting or forcibly relocating Ukrainian children’ have long since turned into a complete farce, lacking any practical or legal basis.”
He said that since the start of the war, “a total of 27 lists containing 281 names of children and the people searching for them were received through the legally established channel between Russia’s children’s rights commissioner and Ukraine’s ombudsman in Kyiv.”
“To date, 130 children from 104 families have been reunited with their loved ones and have returned to Ukraine. The same applies to 29 children from 21 families who have returned from Ukraine to their loved ones in Russia,” Miroshnik said, according to TASS.
A U.N. investigation found that Russia’s deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children since Moscow invaded in February 2022 constituted crimes against humanity.
