President Trump is making moves against Russia, including selling arms to NATO to be used for Ukraine’s fight against Russia and giving Russia fifty days to reach a peace deal or face 100% tariffs with the US. Trump has expressed frustration with Russia as he continues to push for an end to the Ukraine-Russia war while trying to maintain diplomatic relations with Russia. Russia, however, has continued to ignore Trump’s calls for peace, continuing to bomb Ukraine and killing many civilians. “I’m disappointed in President Putin because I thought we would have had a deal two months ago, but it doesn’t seem to get there,” President Trump admitted.

The President appeared to credit his wife, Melania Trump, with pointing out Putin’s continuous broken promises. “I go home. I tell the first lady, ‘You know, I spoke to Vladimir today. We had a wonderful conversation.’ She said, ‘Oh, really? another city was just hit,'” he recalled during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.  The First Lady would continue to point out times of Putin’s duplicitous nature, the President added at a luncheon with the White House Faith Office. “There’s times I’d get home. I’d say, ‘First lady, I had the most wonderful talk with Vladimir. I think we’re finished.’ And then I’ll turn on the television, or she’ll say to me one time, ‘Wow, that’s strange because they just bombed a nursing home.’ I’d say, ‘What?’”

Mary Jordan, author of The Art of Her Deal: The Untold Story of Melania Trump, indicated that as an immigrant from Slovenia, Mrs. Trump might have personal reasons for distrusting Russia. She pointed out that Slovenia was formerly part of Yugoslavia which has “no love for Russia.” “Her home country is all in for Ukraine, and people over there are appalled that the United States would suddenly not be arming Ukraine anymore,” she said.

Ukrainians showed their appreciation for the First Lady’s influence with numerous memes across social media. One took an image of Mrs. Trump from President Trump’s inauguration with the heading “Agent Melania Trumpenko” and a Ukrainian symbol on her blazer. Another meme showed the First Lady standing behind the President as he signed a decree with the heading “Sisters Melania of the Bene Gesserit,” which is a reference to the sect of women in Frank Herbert’s Dune series that manipulate political powers behind the scenes. The Ukrainian magazine, Business, stated “there is a lot of love on social media tonight for Melania Trump.”