U.S. President Donald Trump hand-delivered a personal letter from First Lady Melania Trump to Russian President Vladimir Putin during their 15 Aug. summit at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, according to White House officials cited by Reuters and ABC News. The meeting marked the first in-person talks between the two leaders in six years and lasted nearly three hours. Officials said the Slovenian-born first lady’s note raised the plight of children abducted during Russia’s war on Ukraine and urged action to protect them. While the full text was not released, excerpts obtained by several outlets appealed to Putin to ‘restore their melodic laughter’ and warned that safeguarding childhood ‘serves humanity itself’. Kyiv estimates that tens of thousands of Ukrainian minors have been taken to Russia or Russian-occupied territory without family consent—acts that prompted the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant for Putin in March 2023. The Alaska talks produced no cease-fire, but Trump said “progress” had been made and that he will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington on 18 Aug. to discuss next steps.