US First Lady Melania Trump said Friday she had secured the release of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia after establishing an extraordinary back channel of communication with President Vladimir Putin.

In a rare public announcement at the White House, she revealed weeks of behind the scenes diplomacy with the Kremlin chief after he held a summit in Alaska with her husband, US President Donald Trump.

Eight children displaced by Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine had been returned to their homes in the last 24 hours, she said.

The 55-year-old said that Putin had agreed to help after she passed him a letter through Trump at the summit, a meeting which otherwise ended without a breakthrough in resolving the war now in its fourth year.

“Much has unfolded since President Putin received my

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