First lady Melania Trump has joined forces with an unexpected foreign leader to lead a crucial humanitarian effort in a war-torn region.
During a press conference Friday, Mrs. Trump announced her partnership with Russian President Vladimir Putin to reunite Ukrainian children with their families. So far, eight children who were displaced by the war were reunited with their families in just the last day or so, she indicated. The first lady also confirmed that she remains in communication with Putin to continue the effort.
'I hope peace will come soon. It can begin with our children.'
"A child's soul knows no borders, no flags," Trump said.
"We must foster a future for our children which is rich with potential, security, and complete with free will," she added. "A world where dreams will be realized rather than faded by war."
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During her address, the first lady recounted the initial letter she wrote to Putin in August 2024, raising concerns about the children who were separated from their families due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.
"Since then, President Putin and I have had an open channel of communication regarding the welfare of these children," Trump said.
Over the last three months, both Ukraine and Russia have participated in several "back-channel meetings" that Trump says have all been "in good faith."
"Each child has lived in turmoil because of the war in Ukraine," she said, speaking about the eight children who were reunited this week. "Three were separated from their parents and displaced to the Russian Federation because of frontline fighting. The other five were separated from family members across borders because of the conflict."
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Mrs. Trump also said that Russia has agreed to work alongside officials to return children who have turned 18 since their displacement.
"Again, this remains an ongoing effort," Trump said. "Plans are already under way to reunify more children in the immediate future. I hope peace will come soon. It can begin with our children."
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As Ukrainian cities suffer under the escalating Russian missile and drone attacks, an unsettling truth has emerged: The weapons killing innocent Ukrainians are powered by components sold by European and even U.S. companies. Confirmed across multiple investigations, these Western-made electronics are frequently found in wreckage from Russian attacks.
The Ukrainian National Police document war crimes, and in the wreckage of Russian jets and drones, they’re finding Western-made sensors, microchips, and navigation systems.
Companies whose products powered Russian weapons may find that in the court of global opinion, they’re the next Switzerland.
This is a modern echo of an old disgrace: Switzerland’s wartime profiteering during World War II. While claiming neutrality, Switzerland sold munitions to Nazi Germany. Today, many Western firms appear similar on paper — even as their products power violence in practice.
The consequences, then and now, are devastating. Ukrainians bury their loved ones while billions of dollars move through “innocent” supply chains — supply chains that ultimately help lead to the very funerals and heartbreak we see today.
A 2023 study by a Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty investigative unit found more than 2,000 different electronic components — many made by U.S., Japanese, and Taiwanese firms — inside five types of Russian Sukhoi warplanes.
Friends of mine in the Ukrainian National Police confirmed that Western-made parts routinely show up in missiles and surveillance gear recovered after attacks. These items often pass through intermediary nations, such as China, Turkey, and even some EU member states, shielding the original suppliers.
How do the companies respond when questioned? Most point to legal compliance, third-party distributors, and plausible deniability. “We didn’t know,” they say. “It’s out of our hands.”
But when a buyer in a Russia-aligned country suddenly orders 2,000 units of a component normally purchased in batches of 100, it shouldn’t just raise a red flag — it should sound a blaring siren, a warning no one can miss.
Imagine you’re the CEO of an imaginary company, East Elbonian MicroSystems, a U.S.-based manufacturer of high-frequency guidance chips used in both civilian drones and industrial automation. For five years, you’ve sold 100 units annually to a Turkish buyer.
Suddenly, your Turkish buyer places an order for 2,000 chips. The order comes with an up-front payment and a request for expedited delivery. You have recently read reports that chips identical to yours have been recovered from the wreckage of Russian missiles that struck Ukrainian hospitals and apartment buildings.
You don’t wait. You send a senior compliance officer to Istanbul, unannounced. “We need to see where these chips are going,” the officer says upon arrival at your Turkish buyer’s office. “We’ll need full documentation within 24 hours — sales logs, shipping manifests, end-user agreements.”
If your Turkish buyer can’t provide a legitimate explanation for the spike in orders, you terminate the relationship immediately. No more shipments. No more plausible deniability.
This is not radical. It’s standard practice in sectors like pharmaceuticals and banking. Robust end-use documentation, site visits, and statistical audits are basic components of ethical commerce. So why not in defense-adjacent tech?
The answer is as old as Switzerland’s wartime banks: profit. Tragically, the cost of not taking action is measured in shattered lives. It means more orphans growing up without parents, more widows mourning at fresh graves, more families torn apart by midnight missile strikes.
It means children losing limbs to drone shrapnel, hospitals overwhelmed with burn victims, and schools reduced to rubble. Each shipment of unchecked components contributes to a growing ledger of human suffering — paid for in blood, grief, and futures stolen before they begin.
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In the U.S., politicians from both sides of the aisle ideally would write laws mandating that all firms producing dual-use components publish regular audits and require reporting on statistically unusual purchases.
Companies would have incentives to comply. History offers a powerful cautionary tale. After World War II, Switzerland faced global outrage for war profiteering. In 1998, the complicit banks agreed to a $1.25 billion settlement. The reputational damage led to public boycotts and a tainted legacy that persists to this day.
Legal consequences loom for any U.S. company complicit in war profiteering. Ukrainian investigators, particularly in the National Police, are meticulously cataloging dual-use components from other countries.
When the war ends, expect publicity and accountability to follow. Companies whose products powered Russian weapons may find that in the court of global opinion, they’re the next Switzerland.
Companies that pretend not to know where their components end up still have time to redeem themselves. But that time is running out. Remember — journalists like me may be eager to tell the world exactly what you knew and when you knew it.
The mainstream media made their bias known after refusing to cover the fatal stabbing of a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee.
Iryna Zarutska was brutally victimized on a train in North Carolina on August 22, suffering stab wounds in the throat before eventually being declared dead at the scene. Zarutska's alleged stabber was later identified as 34-year-old Decarlos Brown, who was charged with first-degree murder in relation to the case.
'This is a greater outrage than the death of every BLM martyr combined times a thousand.'
Records from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department show that Brown has repeatedly been arrested and convicted of serious offenses, including armed robbery and felony larceny.
News of Zarutska's death rapidly spread online and sparked outrage, yet mainstream media outlets outside of local news have continued to ignore the story entirely.
RELATED: Horrific video sparks outrage after young Ukrainian woman is fatally stabbed, allegedly by repeat offender
Critics have pointed to the media's double standard when it comes to covering politically convenient tragedies. Mainstream outlets amplified the death of George Floyd in 2020, writing tens of thousands of articles related to the incident. The same publications that gave wall-to-wall coverage of Floyd's death are now turning a blind eye to Zarutska's.
"Despite the release of an explosive video that has received massive public outcry, as of 4:45 pm eastern today, NONE of our major news outlets except @FoxNews have covered the murder of Iryna Zarutska," the Daily Wire's Megan Basham said in a post on X on Sunday. "Not one."
"This is a greater outrage than the death of every BLM martyr combined times a thousand," the Daily Wire's Matt Walsh said in a post on X.
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Other commentators like Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk have pointed to race as a predominant factor in the media's selective coverage. Kirk argues that the difference in coverage between Zarutska's murder and Floyd's death ultimately comes down to whether the narrative is politically convenient.
"Dear CNN, WaPo, NYT, ABC, NBC etc etc," Kirk said in a post on X Sunday. "If you want to know why your ratings are in the tank and no one likes you, look no further than the brutal murder of Iryna Zarutska who moved to US to escape war in Ukraine, a story you refuse to tell.
"Sadly she couldn’t survive the Democrats’ criminal justice system," Kirk added. "Yet you wouldn’t shut up or stop villainizing Daniel Penny, a hero, who probably stopped a murder just like [hers]. Why? Because he was a straight white American male and the perp was black. Shame on you. Genuinely."
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A video of a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee went viral after the footage captures an assailant senselessly and brutally murdering the young woman on a train.
The woman was later identified as Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee who was stabbed multiple times in a random attack on a train in North Carolina on August 22. Zarutska had recently come to America "seeking safety" from the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, "hoping for a new beginning," according to a GoFundMe for her loved ones.
'Violent criminals commit crimes with impunity, while families live in fear.'
"This is an irreparable loss for her family," the GoFundMe reads. "We have created this fundraiser to support ... her loved ones during this heartbreaking time and to help them with the unexpected expenses."
As details emerged surrounding the shocking tragedy, online outrage quickly followed.
RELATED: Jasmine Crockett's jaw-dropping defense of criminals: 'They literally are trying to survive'
- YouTube
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department identified the alleged stabber as 34-year-old Decarlos Brown, a repeat offender. The CMPD arrested and charged Brown with first-degree murder for allegedly stabbing Zarutska multiple times, including once in the throat.
The suspect was also seen walking to another part of the train after the stabbing, blood on the knife dripping all over the ground. He quickly removed his red hoodie once passengers began to take notice.
Brown has been convicted of several offenses, including armed robbery and felony larceny.
"The tragedy of Iryna Zarutska’s death in Charlotte is the result of decades of Democrat DAs and Sheriffs putting their woke agendas above public safety," Republican state Rep. Brenden Jones of North Carolina said in a post on X. "Violent criminals commit crimes with impunity, while families live in fear."
"She came here seeking safety from the war in Ukraine and was murdered in cold blood, no provocation," Christina Pushaw, an alum of Gov. Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign, said in a post on X.
"All the 'progressive' officials who release psychotic habitual violent offenders into our cities instead of institutionalizing them, are complicit in random murders like this."
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President Donald Trump dismissed the claim of a Russian official as the commander in chief continues to negotiate peace talks with Ukraine.
Sergey Lavrov, Russia's minister of foreign affairs, recently said that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not sign a peace deal with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy because he is viewed as an "illegitimate" leader. Trump shot down Lavrov's comments during Tuesday's Cabinet meeting, saying, "Everybody is posturing."
'The issue of who is going to sign the deal on Ukrainian side is a very serious issue.'
"It doesn't matter what they say," Trump told reporters. "Everybody is posturing. It's all bullsh**t."
Trump also offered United States Special Envoy Steve Witkoff the opportunity to chime in, to which he simply said, "I agree with you, sir." The room filled with reporters and government officials promptly erupted with laughter.
Notably, Zelenskyy's five-year presidential term was set to end in May 2024, but no elections have been called due to the ongoing conflict with Russia.
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Reporter: "This weekend Sergey Lavrov was saying Putin will not sign a peace deal with Zelenskyy because Russia views him as illegitimate..."
President Trump: "It doesn't matter what they say. Everybody is posturing. It's all bullshit." pic.twitter.com/8H8AeKNqAC
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) August 26, 2025
Although the Trump administration has held separate summits with both Zelenskyy and Putin in recent weeks, Lavrov said there is "no planned meeting" between the two leaders.
In addition to challenging Zelenskyy's leadership, Lavrov reiterated the slew of preconditions Russia is demanding from Ukraine. Some of these preconditions include Ukraine agreeing not to join NATO, "the discussion of territorial issues," and for Zelenskyy to cancel any legislation "prohibiting the Russian language."
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"Irrespective of when this meeting might take place, and that must be very well prepared, the issue of who is going to sign the deal on Ukrainian side is a very serious issue," Lavrov said over the weekend.
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On August 18, just three days after his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, President Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House to continue the discussion of ending the Russia-Ukraine war, which has been raging for nearly three and a half years now.
Though no agreements are finalized, the world holds greater hope than ever before that the brutal Russia-Ukraine war, with its toll of hundreds of thousands of lives and hundreds of billions in costs, is nearing its end, guided by the brilliant conductor of these intricate negotiations: President Donald Trump.
On a recent episode of “The Glenn Beck Program,” Glenn unpacked the meeting and identified the three biggest Trump wins.
Glenn continues to be amazed by Trump’s unique ability to project American power without relying on military force or being a mere participant in a global coalition. Instead, he is leading the coalition, setting the agenda, and compelling world leaders to follow his direction.
“When [Trump] won the second term, he made it very clear he was going to send a message to the world that he's changing things. … He is doing that while we have had every other president since maybe Reagan start bowing a knee to the global world order,” says Glenn.
“The world has been marching to that drum that America’s time has passed. We're not in the driver's seat any more. We need to have deference to everybody else [and] stop leading the world.”
Trump, he explains, has simultaneously reclaimed the driver’s seat, re-establishing America as “the leader of the world,” and yet managed to avoid “being the policemen of the world” — something Americans “have always wanted.”
This new new world order, with America back at the helm, was evident in Monday’s meeting, Glenn says, comparing the event to a school staff meeting where Trump is the principal and the world leaders are his students.
“He is calling all of the kids in or the teachers in because it's time we have a little conference here, and I need to tell you what's going on in your own classrooms. That's what it felt like yesterday. That is the projection of global leadership,” Glenn says.
In a matter of just days, President Trump has succeeded in reigniting dialogue and making headway where there’s been virtually none in over three years.
Even the biggest world leaders have acknowledged this — Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron, and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer have all condoned President Trump’s role in advancing diplomacy.
It’s clear that he’s mastered “the art of the deal,” says Glenn, adding that his genius lies in his ability to make others — even Putin — “want to be in his circle.”
He sees Trump’s direct engagement with Putin, including the mid-meeting phone call to update him, as a pivotal move that pressured him to take negotiations seriously. This diplomatic breakthrough, including discussions of an Article 5-like security agreement, is a significant win, even if the final outcome remains uncertain.
Another major win from the meeting, says Glenn, is that it revealed that Trump relies on his own judgment, sidestepping State Department advisers who have pushed ineffective policies for decades.
He contrasts Trump’s approach with previous presidents — especially post-Reagan ones — who were overly influenced by entrenched advisers.
“He's leading the State Department. He's leading the world. He's keeping his own counsel. That hasn't been done by a president in I don't know how long,” Glenn says, “and it's why we're once again the leaders of the world because these these advisers — all of these doctors and professors and people who have been in the State Department their whole life and know better than everybody — Donald Trump has said to them, ‘Shut up. I've seen your record. It doesn't work.”’
For the first time in decades, “the president of the United States is in charge of his administration.”
To hear more of Glenn’s commentary and analysis, watch the episode above.
To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
Without Iraq-style lies about Russia, the collusion hoax, the impeachment farce, and the 51 intel officials laundering deception for political gain, there likely would have been no Russia-Ukraine war.
How many times do I have to teach you this lesson about appeasement, warmongers?
“Every subsequent deal for Ukraine will only be worse - because we are losing. We are losing people, territory, and the economy,” Iuliia Mendel said.
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