Donald Trump releases full ‘private’ letter Melania wrote to Putin containing urgent plea

Donald Trump has released the full letter his wife, Melania, wrote to Vladimir Putin which he handed over to the Russian leader during a recent summit.

Trump and Putin met in Alaska on Friday (15 August) to discuss a potential ceasefire over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, though representatives of the Ukrainian government were notably not invited to the meeting.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy will instead be going to the White House today (18 August) with various European leaders to support him, including British PM Sir Keir Starmer.

Trump claimed that he and Putin made 'great progress' in Alaska, though no deal was reached as there has been no agreement on a ceasefire and the US president has not secured a proposal he could put to Zelenskyy today.

Posting on Truth Social recently, Trump shared the full text of the letter his wife wrote that was handed to Putin, with the Russian president reading it 'immediately' at the summit.

The letter called for Putin to remember the children who 'dream of love, possibility, and safety from danger' and urged him to stop his invasion of Ukraine.

"Every child shares the same quiet dreams in their heart, whether born randomly into a nation’s rustic countryside or magnificent city-center," the letter from Melania said.

"They dream of love, possibility, and safety from danger. 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 the stroke of the pen today. It is time."

While it is very much true that the war in Ukraine could be ended near-immediately with a decision from Putin, there is very little about his behaviour which suggests he wants it to stop, at least not until he uses force of arms to make Ukraine surrender territory it has no intention of handing over.

Trump raged at the coverage of his Alaska summit with Putin, claiming: "If I got Russia to give up Moscow as part of the Deal, the Fake News, and their PARTNER, the Radical Left Democrats, would say I made a terrible mistake and a very bad deal."

However, no deal has actually been agreed.

US envoy to Russia Steve Witkoff claimed that Russia will allow Ukrainian allies to 'offer Article 5-like protection', meaning Ukraine could call them to war if attacked again, should a ceasefire deal be secured.

Despite this, it seems as though Putin's 'conditions' for such a deal would mean transferring the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk over to Russia, something Ukraine understandably does not want to do.

Zelenskyy insisted his country would not be surrendering territory to Russia, saying: "We will not leave Donbas. We cannot do this. Everyone forgets the first part - our territories are illegally occupied. Donbas for the Russians is a springboard for a future new offensive."