Melania Trump facilitates return of 7 Ukrainian children taken by Russia
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U.S. First Lady Melania Trump has helped to facilitate the return of seven more Ukrainian taken by Russia, the White House said in a statement released on April 2.
"Reunifying children with their loved ones in this region of the world remains one of the
most important global issues today. I am encouraged that both sides remain committed to
ongoing cooperation, raising the safety and well-being of children above this abhorrent war," the First Lady says in the statement.
The First Lady originally wrote to Russian President Vladimir Putin in August 2025, appealing to him about the plight of Ukrainian children, a message that her husband U.S. President Donald Trump later conveyed during his meeting with the Russian leader in Alaska.
In the months since, the White House has said on three previous occasions — before the latest announcement — that Ukrainian children had been safely brought back from Russia, attributing the efforts to the First Lady and an unnamed representative.
The U.S. State Department announced in late March that it had allocated $25 million to help Ukraine identify, bring back, and rehabilitate chilldren that were taken by Russia.
Ukraine has successfully identified more than 20,500 children that have been taken by Russia since the start of the full-scale war. The actual number is likely much higher. Since the start of the full-scale war, a little over 2,000 children have been brought back to Ukraine.
The International Criminal Court issued in March 2023 international arrest warrants for both Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia's commissioner for children’s rights, regarding the mass abduction of Ukrainian children.
