US President Donald Trump handed Vladimir Putin a special item at their Alaska summit: a letter written by his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, pleading for the Russian leader to make peace in the name of children.The first lady’s office on Saturday reposted a Fox News article on X containing the short letter, a day after Trump and Putin failed to find a breakthrough at their high-stakes meeting.Putin read the “peace letter” immediately after Trump handed it to him, while delegations from both sides looked on, according to Fox News.”In today’s world, some children are forced to carry a quiet laughter, untouched by the darkness around them,” read the letter, which was signed by the first lady and did not mention Ukraine by name.”Mr Putin, you can singlehandedly restore their melodic laughter,” it added. “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 a stroke of the pen today,” the letter read. “It is time.”In July, the US president had said that his wife, who was born in Slovenia, had helped change his thinking about Putin.”I go home, I tell the first lady, ‘you know, I spoke to Vladimir today, we had a wonderful conversation,'” Trump said.”And she said, ‘Oh really? Another city was just hit.'”Trump attempted a rapprochement with Putin shortly after starting his second term, having campaigned on a pledge to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours.During the early months of his new term, he largely directed anger at Ukraine for the lack of a deal, but gradually began expressing frustration that Putin continued his attacks on Ukraine.Before the summit in Alaska, Trump had warned of “severe consequences” if Russia did not accept a ceasefire. However after meeting with Putin, Trump dropped his demand for a ceasefire, saying the best way to end the war “is to go directly to a peace agreement.”Putin has long argued for negotiations on a final peace deal — a strategy that Ukraine and its European allies have criticized as a way to buy time and press Russia’s battlefield advances.

Donald Trump on Saturday dropped his push for a ceasefire in Ukraine in favor of pursuing a full peace accord — a major shift announced hours after his summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin yielded no clear breakthrough.Prior to the high-stakes meeting in Alaska, securing an immediate cessation of hostilities had been a core demand of Trump — who had threatened “severe consequences” on Russia — and European leaders, including Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, who will now visit Washington on Monday.The shift away from ceasefire would seem to favor Putin, who has long argued for negotiations on a final peace deal — a strategy that Ukraine and its European allies have criticized as a way to buy time and press Russia’s battlefield advances.Trump spoke with Zelensky and European leaders on his flight back to Washington, saying afterward that “it was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a peace agreement which would end the war.”Ceasefire agreements “often times do not hold up,” Trump added on his Truth Social platform.This new development “complicates the situation,” Zelensky said Saturday.If Moscow lacks “the will to carry out a simple order to stop the strikes, it may take a lot of effort to get Russia to have the will to implement far greater — — peaceful coexistence with its neighbors for decades,” he said on social media.- ‘Harsh reality’ – In the call, Trump expressed support for a proposal by Putin to take full control of two largely Russian-held Ukrainian regions in exchange for freezing the frontline in two others, an official briefed on the talks told AFP.Putin “de facto demands that Ukraine leave Donbas,” an area consisting of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in eastern Ukraine, the source said.In exchange, Russian forces would halt their offensive in the Black Sea port region of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine, where the main cities are still under Ukrainian control.Several months into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia in September 2022 claimed to have annexed all four Ukrainian regions even though its troops still do not fully control any of them.”The Ukrainian president refused to leave Donbas,” the source said.Trump notably also said the United States was prepared to provide Ukraine security guarantees, an assurance German Chancellor Friedrich Merz hailed as “significant progress.”But there was a scathing assessment of the summit outcome from the European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas, who accused Putin of seeking to “drag out negotiations” with no commitment to end the bloodshed.”The harsh reality is that Russia has no intention of ending this war any time soon,” Kallas said.- Zelensky back in White House -The main diplomatic focus now switches to Zelensky’s talks at the White House on Monday.An EU source told AFP that a number of European leaders had also been invited to attend.The Ukrainian president’s last Oval Office visit in February ended in an extraordinary shouting match, with Trump and Vice President JD Vance publicly berating Zelensky for not showing enough gratitude for US aid.Zelensky said Saturday after a “substantive” conversation with Trump about the Alaska summit that he looked forward to his Washington visit and discussing “all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war.” In an interview with broadcaster Fox News after his sit-down with Putin, Trump had suggested that the onus was now on Zelensky to secure a peace deal as they work towards an eventual trilateral summit with Putin.”It’s really up to President Zelensky to get it done,” Trump said.- European pressure -The leaders of France, Britain and Germany are due to host a video call Sunday for their so-called “coalition of the willing” to discuss the way forward.In an earlier statement, they welcomed the plan for a Trump-Putin-Zelensky summit but added that they would maintain pressure on Russia in the absence of a ceasefire.Meanwhile, the conflict in Ukraine raged on, with Kyiv announcing Saturday that Russia had launched 85 attack drones and a ballistic missile during the night.Back in Moscow, Putin said his summit talks with Trump had been “timely” and “very useful.”In his post-summit statement in Alaska, Putin had warned Ukraine and European countries not to engage in any “behind-the-scenes intrigues” that could disrupt what he called “this emerging progress.”

The US government said Saturday it is suspending visitor visas for Gazans after a far-right influencer with the ear of President Donald Trump complained that wounded Palestinians had been allowed to seek medical treatment in the United States.The announcement came one day after a series of furious social media posts by Laura Loomer, who is known for promoting racist conspiracy theories and claiming that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were an inside job.”All visitor visas for individuals from Gaza are being stopped while we conduct a full and thorough review of the process and procedures used to issue a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas in recent days,” the State Department, which is led by Marco Rubio, wrote on X.In a series of posts on X Friday, Loomer called on the State Department to stop giving visas to Palestinians from Gaza who she said were “pro-HAMAS… affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and funded by Qatar,” without providing evidence.Loomer’s target was the US-based charity HEAL Palestine, which said last week it had helped 11 critically wounded Gazan children — as well as their caregivers and siblings — arrive safely in the US for medical treatment.It was “the largest single medical evacuation of injured children from Gaza to the US,” the charity said on its website.- ‘Dangerous and inhumane’ -“Truly unacceptable,” Loomer wrote in another X post. “Someone needs to be fired at @StateDept when @marcorubio figures out who approved the visas.””Qatar transported these GAZANS into the US via @qatarairways,” she said. Qatar is “literally flooding our country with jihadis,” she added.Loomer said she had spoken to the staff of Republican Tom Cotton, who chairs the Senate intelligence committee, adding that they were “also looking into how these GAZANS got visas to come into the US.”Republican Congressman Randy Fine explicitly commended Loomer after the visa change was announced, in a sign of her sway over some US policy. “Massive credit needs to be given to @LauraLoomer for uncovering this and making me and other officials aware. Well done, Laura,” Fine wrote on X.The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, a US-based charity, called on the Trump administration to “reverse this dangerous and inhumane decision.”Over the last 30 years the charity has evacuated thousands of Palestinian children to the US for medical care, it said a statement.”Medical evacuations are a lifeline for the children of Gaza who would otherwise face unimaginable suffering or death due to the collapse of medical infrastructure in Gaza.”Though Loomer holds no official position, she wields significant power, and is reported to have successfully pushed for the dismissal of several senior US security officials she deemed disloyal to Trump.In July, Loomer took aim at a job offer made to a highly qualified Biden-era official for a prestigious position at the West Point military academy. The Pentagon rescinded the offer one day later.Trump also fired the head of the highly sensitive National Security Agency, Timothy Haugh, and his deputy Wendy Noble in April at the apparent urging of Loomer, after she met with the president at the White House.”No other content creator or journalist has gotten as many Biden holdovers fired from the Trump admin!” Loomer posted on X Saturday.