“I really don’t care, do u?” read the white graffiti slogan on First Lady Melania Trump’s infamous olive-green jacket back in 2018. The slogan seemed to sum up Melania’s unusual attitude towards the role of First Lady. She was going to do the job her way, and her critics could stuff it.
Yet a furore over her stepson Don Jr’s wedding has collided with a cause Melania apparently really does care about. The abduction of Ukrainian children.
The lavish celebrations, which followed the May wedding, took place at a private island in the Bahamas and were funded by an oligarch with ties to Vladimir Putin. Don Jr’s new wife, Bettina Anderson, described the event as a wedding afterparty, and an “extraordinarily generous gift” from a “dear friend”.
But Kremlev, who paid for the fireworks and rental of an island, is allegedly “heavily involved” in an organisation sanctioned by Ukraine for abducting children from Russian occupied parts of their country, according to ProPublica.
Kremlev’s press office did not comment regarding his alleged links to the organisation, but said: “Mr. Kremlev and Mr. Trump Jr have a friendly relationship” and they first met “a couple of years ago”. It described Kremlev as a businessman and philanthropist, adding, “Mr. Kremlev has never discussed political matters with any of his American friends and acquaintances”, including Trump Jr.
The First Lady has brokered deals with the Kremlin to reunite Ukrainian children with their parents – and she is putting a great deal of distance between herself and Don Jr now her stepson is hanging out with Kremlev.
“Mrs Trump does not, and has never had, a relationship with Mr Kremlev,” a spokesman told multiple media outlets. “Mrs Trump played no role whatsoever in organizing the wedding event and was not privy to any aspect of its financial planning.”
Donald Trump Jr. and his new wife, Bettina Anderson, have been accused of allowing a sanctioned Russian oligarch with ties to Vladimir Putin to fund their lavish wedding celebrations (Photo: Reuters/Kylie Cooper/File Photo)Neither Melania nor Donald Trump attended Don Jr and Bettina’s May wedding in the Bahamas. The President told reporters beforehand: “He’d like me to go, but it’s going to be just a small, little private affair.”
In a statement shared by the White House after the story about Kremlev emerged, Trump added: “I have no idea who Umar is, never heard of him, and he didn’t pay for Don and Bettina’s wedding, which took place at a totally different location, and on a different day.
“It was an ‘after-party’ given in their honor. Not a big deal!”
Asked about a potential investigation, Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters: “The President doesn’t know who this person is. I think other members of the family don’t know who this person is … When you say am I investigating – am I investigating what?”
Kremlev, 43, was one of a select few invited to the “little private affair” – despite what ProPublica called Russian businessman’s alleged links to Healthy Fatherland, a group accused by Ukraine of carrying out the abduction, deportation and forced relocation of Ukrainian children. Healthy Fatherland is run by the twin sister of Kremlev’s 23-year-old wife, according to the nonprofit investigative outlet.
Healthy Fatherland did not respond to requests for comment.
Donald and Melania Trump, who has been critical of Putin’s war, did not attend Don Jr’s nuptials in the Bahamas (Photo: AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)In a rare foray into international diplomacy, Melania wrote a personal letter to Putin in August 2025, urging him to make peace for the sake of the children affected by Russia’s war against Ukraine. “Every child shares the same quiet dreams in their heart … they dream of love, possibility and safety from danger,” wrote the First Lady. “Mr Putin, you can single-handedly restore their melodic laughter. In protecting the innocence of these children you will do more than serve Russia alone – you serve humanity itself.”
Apparently unmoved by this direct appeal, the Russian President’s bombing campaign against Ukraine continued. Yet the First Lady did succeed in establishing a backchannel with Russian officials and her initiative has facilitated the reunification of 34 Ukrainian children with their families – and Russian children too, says the White House – after they were separated from their parents by the war.
The White House provides regular statements on Melania’s efforts. “First Lady Melania Trump helped reunite a fifth group of Ukrainian and Russian children with their loved ones, continuing her humanitarian work on behalf of those affected by the war,” it declared in July.
More than 19,500 Ukrainian children have been taken by Russia during the war. In 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Putin and a Kremlin official, citing the forcible deportation of Ukrainian children from occupied parts of the country. Russian state media regularly accuses Ukraine of abducting Russian children, which Russia analysts say is a classic example of Moscow trying to deflect attention away from its own misdeeds.
Trump has said that his wife regularly points out how Russia keeps striking Ukrainian cities. The Slovenian-born Melania, who is highly selective about her public appearances, has stepped into the limelight by championing the reunion of children separated from their parents during the conflict, saying, “Every reunion is a reminder that compassion, dignity and family can transcend even the darkest times: war.”
Which partly explains why Melania may be none too pleased that Don Jr has been partying on the dime of Kremlev, who is allegedly involved with an organisation sanctioned by Ukraine for abducting children and relocating them under the guide of “rehabilitation”.
Trump himself is often accused by critics of favouring Russia in his efforts to get peace talks going. At last year’s Alaska summit, the US President quite literally rolled out the red carpet for a visibly delighted Putin, applauding him and clapping him on the back before allowing him to speak first at their joint press conference. But a month later, Trump turned on Putin, saying “he’s let me down”.
As Trump tries to pressure Russia and Ukraine to end the war that Moscow started, Melania must know it’s not a good look for Don Jr to be palling around with a Putin crony.
She appears to feel her husband was unfairly hounded over his links to Russia during his first term, and doesn’t wish to revive memories of that period. The Trumps regularly refer to the Mueller inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election as a “witch hunt”.
On Ukraine, it seems Melania really does care – and the issue threatens to create a new family divide for the Trumps.
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