First lady Melania Trump tells Breitbart News that Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko’s claim that she sought his assistance in efforts to reunify Ukrainian and Russian children with their families is false and baseless.
The first lady issued a statement to Breitbart News on Sunday, following Lukashenko’s recent claim, and stressed that any communications on reunification matters have been strictly between her, her authorized representative, and top Russian and Ukrainian officials.
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“Mr. Lukashenko’s claim that I solicited his assistance in connection with efforts to reunify Ukrainian and Russian children with their families is false and without basis,” she said. “To date, all communications and engagements relating to this matter have been conducted exclusively by my duly authorized representative and me, directly with Ukrainian and Russian officials.”
“No other communications or outreach to either party have been made by any third party on my behalf,” she added.
Lukashenko claimed on Friday that the first lady had “passed me a list of kids, who are allegedly lost in Russia as a result of the war in Ukraine” and requested it be passed along to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko speaks during a meeting of the Supreme State Council of the Union State of Russia and Belarus in Moscow on February 26, 2026. (HECTOR RETAMAL / AFP via Getty Images)
However, the first lady and her authorized representative have been working directly with Putin and his team on the Russian side and top Ukrainian officials on the other side, a source familiar with the talks told Breitbart News. No one else is involved in the discussions.
The source emphasized that there has been neither outreach to Lukashenko on the first lady’s behalf nor a solicitation of a third-party intermediary to assist in going to Lukashenko on her behalf.
Since October, the first lady has facilitated three rounds of reunifications of Russian and Ukrainian children with their families amid the war between the nations, with the most recent announcement coming on February 12.
Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures while speaking to Russian Paralympic athletes of the 2026 Winter Paralympics in Italy, during an awarding ceremony at the Kremlin, in Moscow, on Thursday, March 19, 2026. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
The first lady and her representative have been in touch with Putin’s team and the Ukrainian team for a fourth reunification, which will begin in early April, the source said. All three parties have been in negotiations to facilitate and expand reunifications, in addition to the fourth coming next month, and the talks have been positive and in good faith.
The first lady’s success on the reunification front has served as a rare tangible result toward peace in the four-year-long conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
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