The first lady in August wrote to Putin and had her husband hand-deliver the letter when he held a summit with the Russian president in Alaska. The letter called for peace in Ukraine.

Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has resulted in Russia taking Ukrainian children out of their country so they can be raised as Russian. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has lobbied various world leaders for help reuniting children he says were taken by Russia after the invasion began.

Speaking at the White House, the first lady said that after Putin responded in writing to her letter, they established an “open channel of communication” regarding the welfare of those children.

Her announcement came as President Donald Trump’s own efforts to broker an end to Putin’s war in Ukraine have stalled, and he repeatedly has expressed frustration over the setback along with what he describes as his disappointment with Russia’s leader.

Melania Trump said the issue of the children is important to her.

“For the past three months, both sides have participated in several back-channel meetings and calls, all in good faith,” she said. “We have agreed to cooperate with each other for the benefit of all people involved in this war.”

One of her representatives has been working directly with Putin’s team to “ensure the safe reunification of children with their families.” She did not identify the representative.

“In fact, eight children have been rejoined with their families during the past 24 hours,” she said. “Each child has lived in turmoil because of the war in Ukraine.”

The Associated Press documented the grabbing of Ukrainian children in 2022, after which the International Criminal Court said it had issued an arrest warrant for Putin for war crimes, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine.

Three of the eight children were separated from their parents and “displaced” to Russia because of front-line fighting, Melania Trump said. The other five were separated from family members across borders because of the conflict, including a girl who has gone from Ukraine to Russia, she said.

Melania Trump said she also raised concerns about children who were minors “at the time they were displaced by the war” but have since reached adulthood and currently live in Russia.

She said that their safe return requires “coordinated assistance” and that Russia has agreed to “rejoin individuals who have turned 18 within a short period of time.”

Reunification efforts continue, she added, and plans were underway for more children to rejoin their families in the “immediate future.”

“I hope peace will come soon,” the first lady said. “It will begin with our children.”

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This story has been corrected to show first lady Melania Trump said there were eight children, not eight Ukrainian children, reunited with their families.

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Starmer hosted a security summit in London on March 2 with other European and world leaders as Britain, France, and Ukraine work on a cease-fire plan to present to the United States as an effort to end the Russia–Ukraine war.

Starmer emphasized that despite the breakdown in talks at the White House on Feb. 28, the United States remains an important ally to Britain.

“The U.S. has been a reliable ally to the U.K. for many, many decades and continues to be,” Starmer said. “There are no two countries as closely aligned as our two countries.”

Starmer said he is working on a Ukraine peace plan intended to receive U.S. backing and warned that Europe must do the heavy work of defending itself.

Starmer’s March 2 summit of leaders stands in contrast to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s meeting in the White House on Feb. 28, during which U.S. President Donald Trump scolded him for not being ready for peace and not being grateful for America’s support in his nation’s defense against Russia’s three-year-long invasion.

Starmer said he’s working on restoring discussions of peace and is using the breakdown on Feb. 28 as an opportunity to reengage with Trump, Zelenskyy, and French President Emmanuel Macron rather than “ramp up the rhetoric.”

“We’ve now agreed that the United Kingdom, along with France and possibly one or two others, will work with Ukraine on a plan to stop the fighting, and then we’ll discuss that plan with the United States,” Starmer told the BBC, adding that he and Macron have both spoken to Trump since the latter’s meeting with Zelenskyy.

At the summit, European leaders discussed shoring up the continent’s defenses in defending Ukraine, including discussions to create a European military force to send to the war-torn country to cap a cease-fire. Starmer suggested the military force would include a “coalition of the willing.”

While he does not trust Russian President Vladimir Putin, Starmer said he trusts Trump.

“Do I believe Donald Trump when he says he wants lasting peace? The answer to that is yes,” he said.

Starmer added that “intense discussions” to obtain a security guarantee from the United States are one of the three components of lasting peace.

“If there is to be a deal, if there is to be a stopping of the fighting, then that agreement has to be defended, because the worst of all outcomes is that there is a temporary pause, and then Putin comes again,” Starmer said. “That has happened in the past. I think it is a real risk, and that is why we must ensure that if there’s a deal, it is a lasting deal, not a temporary pause.”

The summit, held at Lancaster House—a 200-year-old mansion near Buckingham Palace—will also include leaders from France, Germany, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Canada, Finland, Sweden, the Czech Republic, and Romania.

Other attendees include the Turkish foreign minister, the NATO secretary-general, and the presidents of the European Commission and European Council.

Zelenskyy received support from European leaders after the contentious Feb. 28 meeting at the White House in which a rare earths deal was abandoned and Trump told Zelenskyy to come back when he was ready for peace.

After the Ukrainian president arrived in Britain on March 1, Starmer embraced him.

“As you heard from the cheers on the street outside, you have full backing across the United Kingdom,” Starmer said. “We stand with you, with Ukraine, for as long as it may take.”

Starmer also pledged to boost military spending to 2.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2027. Other European nations may follow suit.

On March 1, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said European countries must increase military spending to at least 3 percent of GDP as the continent faces a historic test in defending itself.

“If we don’t increase our effort fast enough and let the aggressor dictate its conditions, we won’t end up well,” he said.

In calling for unity among his European neighbors, Macron embraced more defense spending after saying it was legitimate for the United States to shift its military focus to China and Asia.

“We should have woken up earlier,” Macron said. “I’ve been saying for years that we need a more sovereign, more united, more independent Europe.”

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