US President Donald Trump handed Vladimir Putin a special item at their Alaska summit: a letter written by his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, pleading for the Russian leader to make peace in the name of children.
The first lady’s office on Saturday reposted a Fox News article on X containing the short letter, a day after Trump and Putin failed to find a breakthrough at their high-stakes meeting.
Putin read the “peace letter” immediately after Trump handed it to him, while delegations from both sides looked on, according to Fox News.
“In today’s world, some children are forced to carry a quiet laughter, untouched by the darkness around them,” read the letter, which was signed by the first lady and did not mention Ukraine by name.
“Mr Putin, you can singlehandedly restore their melodic laughter,” it added. “In protecting the innocence of these children, you will do more than serve Russia alone — you serve humanity itself.”
“Such a bold idea transcends all human division, and you, Mr Putin, are fit to implement this vision with a stroke of the pen today,” the letter read. “It is time.”
In July, the US president had said that his wife, who was born in Slovenia, had helped change his thinking about Putin.
“I go home, I tell the first lady, ‘you know, I spoke to Vladimir today, we had a wonderful conversation,'” Trump said.
“And she said, ‘Oh really? Another city was just hit.'”
Trump attempted a rapprochement with Putin shortly after starting his second term, having campaigned on a pledge to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours.
During the early months of his new term, he largely directed anger at Ukraine for the lack of a deal, but gradually began expressing frustration that Putin continued his attacks on Ukraine.
Before the summit in Alaska, Trump had warned of “severe consequences” if Russia did not accept a ceasefire.
However after meeting with Putin, Trump dropped his demand for a ceasefire, saying the best way to end the war “is to go directly to a peace agreement.”
Putin has long argued for negotiations on a final peace deal — a strategy that Ukraine and its European allies have criticized as a way to buy time and press Russia’s battlefield advances.
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© Agence France-Presse
