Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy started his meeting with President Donald Trump on Monday, Aug. 18, by showing his thanks to first lady Melania Trump.
Although Melania did not attend President Trump’s recent summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, she had sent Putin a personal letter. In it, she asked him to consider peace for the sake of children in both Ukraine and Russia who are suffering because of the war.
Zelenskyy told Trump that he and his wife, Olena Zelenska, were deeply touched by the gesture. He then handed Trump a letter to give to Melania.
“It’s not for you, [it’s] for your wife,” Zelenskyy joked, which made President Trump and the reporters in the room laugh.
In her Aug. 15 message, Melania wrote:
“Every child shares the same quiet dreams in their heart, whether born randomly into a nation’s rustic countryside or a magnificent city-center. They dream of love, possibility, and safety from danger.”
Melania, 55, grew up in communist Yugoslavia and left to work as a model in the early 1990s, just as the country was breaking apart in a series of wars. Today, she is a citizen of Slovenia.
In her letter, she asked Putin to protect the “innocence” of children in war zones.
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“As parents, it is our duty to nurture the next generation’s hope,” she wrote. “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.”
She added that by doing so, Putin would “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 a pen today. It is time.”
Despite Melania’s letter and President Trump’s warning that there would be “severe consequences” if Putin didn’t agree to a ceasefire, the Aug. 15 meeting between Trump and Putin ended without an agreement.
“There’s no deal until there’s a deal,” Trump said afterward. Putin claimed the two leaders had reached “an understanding,” according to The Associated Press.
Still, Trump told reporters the talks made “great progress” and even rated the summit “a 10 out of 10.”
“We had an extremely productive meeting, and many points were agreed to. There are just a very few that are left,” he explained. “Some are not that significant. One is probably the most significant.”
On Monday, after his private meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump spoke with reporters again. He said he planned to call Putin after first meeting with European leaders who came with Zelenskyy to the White House.
The group included NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
They took a group photo before meeting in the East Room to talk about Ukraine’s security. Zelenskyy described his talks with Trump as “productive,” and Trump told the leaders he would try to set up another meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy.
However, Trump later backed away from his earlier idea of pushing for a ceasefire. He suggested Putin wasn’t interested and that peace could still be reached without it. Some European leaders disagreed, saying no negotiations should happen until fighting stops.
