Melania's Letter to Putin: 'Serve Humanity'

First Lady of the United States, Melania Trump, was absent from the summit in Alaska. However, she left a letter for Vladimir Putin, urging him to release the more than 20,000 Ukrainian children kidnapped by Russia since the war began. "It's time," she writes, according to Fox News.

Melania Trump wrote a letter to Putin ahead of the meeting in Alaska, two White House officials told Reuters. They report that the letter mentions the kidnappings of children due to the over three-year-long war in Ukraine.

Fox News has now published the letter.

Melania does not explicitly mention the kidnapping of the children but appeals to Putin to "protect the innocence of children."

"Mr. Putin, you can single-handedly restore their melodic laughter. By protecting these children's innocence, you do more than serve Russia – you serve humanity," she writes.

"It's Time"

In her role as the First Lady of the United States, Melania has focused on children's rights in society. In the letter, she writes about children's right to freedom.

"It is undeniable that we must strive to paint a worthy world for all – so that every soul awakens to peace, and so that the future itself is fully protected."

"A simple yet profound concept, Mr. Putin, which I am sure you agree with, is that every generation's descendants begin their lives with a purity – an innocence that transcends geography, government, and ideology."

She writes that some children in today's world "are forced to carry a silent laughter" – but that Putin can "restore their melodic laughter."

"Such a bold idea transcends all human boundaries, and you, Mr. Putin, are the right person to realize this vision with a stroke of a pen today. It's time."

Over 20,000 Children Kidnapped

Since the war began, more than 20,000 children have been kidnapped from their homes in Ukraine, but according to the BBC, it could be up to 100,000 children.

They have been granted Russian citizenship and forcibly adopted into Russian families, while Russia has deliberately made the reunification process with their parents difficult.

This is why Putin, along with Russia's Commissioner for Children's Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

He risks arrest if he sets foot in any of the ICC's 124 member countries.

Russia has claimed that it has done this to protect the children from war zones.