Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska met with US First Lady Melania Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, Sept. 24, highlighting a shared commitment to protecting children affected by war.
Zelenska said the two discussed “shared values, first and foremost the protection of children and their childhood,” adding that she expressed gratitude to Melania Trump for her support of Ukraine and for her public attention to children who have become victims of Russia’s war.
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“I especially thank her for the letter – an appeal to Putin for peace for children,” Zelenska said in a statement following the meeting. “I deeply value that her heart is open to this issue, as well as to the broader theme of children’s well-being worldwide.”
The Ukrainian first lady emphasized what she described as the power of “soft strength” – humanity, compassion and the ability to change reality for the better.
“I believe that together we can help all children who need assistance,” she said.
Zelenska also stressed that protecting children must be treated as more than a political priority – it is, she argued, a moral obligation shared across nations.
“Today, their protection is not just a common cause, but a shared responsibility for our future,” she said.
Zelenska said she valued Trump’s openness to cooperation and looked forward to continuing joint initiatives aimed at supporting children worldwide.
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“I am sincerely grateful for today’s meeting and hopeful for further cooperation in defending what is most precious – our children,” Zelenska said.
The meeting marked another moment in Zelenska’s broader campaign to keep global attention on the human cost of Russia’s invasion, particularly the impact on children uprooted from their homes, traumatized by violence, or taken illegally across borders.
US media have recently reported that Melania Trump personally raised concerns over the fate of children in Russia’s war. The US first lady penned a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin urging him to address the forced deportation of children from occupied Ukrainian territories.
President Trump reportedly handed the letter to Putin during their talks in Alaska on Aug. 15. The full contents of the document have not been disclosed, but officials said it referred specifically to the transfer of Ukrainian children. Melania Trump, a native of Slovenia, was not present at the Alaska meeting.
As of August 2025, over 1.6 million Ukrainian children remain under Moscow’s control – either in occupied territories or deported to Russia.
They face forced Russification, militarization and ideological indoctrination – actions some label as genocide, which have led the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant for Putin.
Part of the indoctrination process involve military-oriented youth summer camps, where Ukrainian youth could be seen partaking in war game simulations and swearing allegiance to Moscow.
Previously, the Kremlin claimed that it was “protecting vulnerable children from the war zone.”
With tactics that include forcibly taking children from orphanages, killing parents, splitting up families during filtration processes, creating unbearable living conditions in occupied areas, and brazenly kidnapping children from their homes and schools, it’s more than a tragedy; it’s a deliberate attack on Ukraine’s future, said Ukraine’s “Bring Kids Back UA” initiative on its website.
The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) stated that Russia has caused suffering of millions of Ukrainian children and violated their rights since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Moscow’s indiscriminate attack on civilian targets in Ukriane have also led to thousands of children’s deaths.
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