How Melania Trump is bringing peace to Ukraine - The Sunday Story

Manveen Rana (0:01)

From the Times and the Sunday Times, this is The Story on Sunday. I'm Manveen Rana.

As First Ladies go, the current holder of the title has distinguished herself by being largely absent. For much of the last couple of years, Melania has been MIA.

SPEAKER_2 (0:22)

Now Melania Trump is set to return to the White House, but with a twist, breaking tradition, the soon-to-be First Lady plans to spend most of her time outside Washington.

SPEAKER_3 (0:32)

My wife is here in Spirit.

SPEAKER_4 (0:34)

She's watching right now.

SPEAKER_3 (0:36)

I said, well, why don't you come with me? I said, she said, well, that's a seven-hour trip. Maybe I'm not that friendly.

SPEAKER_4 (0:42)

People have noticed that she's been laying low.

SPEAKER_3 (0:44)

In fact, she hasn't been seen in public for 29 days.

SPEAKER_4 (0:48)

Trump heard and was like, big deal.

SPEAKER_3 (0:49)

I haven't seen her in private for two years.

Manveen Rana (0:53)

Good afternoon.

Melania Trump (0:54)

I heard you missed me. Here I am.

Manveen Rana (1:03)

Yep, here she is, suddenly back with a bang.

SPEAKER_6 (1:08)

The US. First Lady, Melania Trump, made a surprise announcement, saying she had secured a localized ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine in the southern Ukrainian city of Oleschki.

SPEAKER_7 (1:19)

Did you talk to President Putin or President Zelensky?

Melania Trump (1:22)

We talked, we signed agreements and... With both.

SPEAKER_8 (1:27)

She does better than our professionals.

Manveen Rana (1:33)

And it seems that Donald Trump could be right. Melania has been hosting meetings at the White House this week between Russian and Ukrainian delegations, in the hope of securing further peace deals.

Melania Trump (1:48)

I hope Oleschki inspires greater peace. Every significant transformation begins with a small spark.

Together, we can create something more enduring than a temporary ceasefire.

Manveen Rana (2:06)

So how did this unexpected turn of events come about? Why is this the issue that the First Lady decided to weigh in on? And after so many other attempts have failed, could Melania really be the person to bring peace to Ukraine?

The Story today, Melania's unexpected role in Ukraine.

Maxim Tucker (2:44)

I'm Maxim Tucker, I'm the Ukraine Correspondent for The Times. I'm speaking to you from Kyiv, and I've been reporting on the region for the past 15 years.

Manveen Rana (2:52)

Has it been an easy night?

Maxim Tucker (2:54)

It's never an easy night. Sadly, in Kyiv at the moment, the city is without electricity. There's regular rocket strikes, regular drone strikes, but it wasn't one of the worst.

Manveen Rana (3:04)

Max, it feels quite unusual. We wouldn't have had this conversation in the past, but while you're sat in Kyiv, it feels like we need to talk about Melania Trump. The First Lady hasn't been very visible. She's not often accompanying the president. We don't hear from her very much.

At what point did we realize she's actually very interested in what's happening in Ukraine?

Maxim Tucker (3:27)

So she popped up last August writing a letter to President Putin, a really kind of surprise engagement with him, appealing for the protection of children. And it wasn't pointing the finger of blame at him by any means, but it was definitely showing that she believed he was responsible for being able to do something to stop it.

And this was very, very interesting because it's not the kind of thing that Trump himself has been talking about. He's very transactional. He's more interested in what he can get out of Russia. And here she was talking about the human cost of the war, which is something that he's tended to avoid.

Manveen Rana (4:01)

Yeah, that really is surprising. And a direct engagement also feels surprising. Do we know why she's taking a pro-Ukrainian approach, particularly at a time when Donald Trump seems to be favouring the other side?

Maxim Tucker (4:14)

She wouldn't characterise it as a pro-Ukrainian position. I think what's happened is that she's rightly recognised that there is a horrific loss of life in Ukraine, hundreds of children, hundreds and hundreds of children are being killed in this conflict. Many hundreds more are growing up without arms or limbs, and an entire generation of kids in Ukraine are going to grow up without parents. So she's recognised that there is one person really that is capable of stopping this, and directing appeals to them and trying to find a way to improve conditions as far as she can.

Manveen Rana (4:49)

We know that she grew up in Eastern Europe, she's Slovenian. Does that have any impact on her thinking?

Maxim Tucker (4:55)

I mean, it's a long time since she was in Slovenia, so I think she left in 1996