Melania Trump's intervention on Ukraine

Donald Trump has credited his wife Melania for his recent decision to resupply weapons to Ukraine, a position he had previously opposed.

This isn't the first time that the first lady has appeared to be a "bigger supporter" of Ukraine than the "sceptical" US president, said The Guardian. And some are now claiming that Melania has a greater influence on the Trump presidency than previously thought.

'Unlikely ally'

Her position on the conflict seemed at odds with her husband's when, soon after Russia's full invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the president described Vladimir Putin as "savvy" and a "genius", but Melania said it was "heartbreaking and horrific" to see "innocent people suffering" and urged her social media followers to donate to the Red Cross.

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Melania's interest in the Ukraine war "can be explained by her background", said The Times.

She was born in the former Yugoslavia in 1970 and she and her son Barron often speak her native Slovenian. Her father continues to travel back and forth to Slovenia, where the public overwhelmingly supports Ukraine, so she's "kept abreast of European politics".

Kyiv has an "unlikely ally" in the White House with Melania. She reminded her husband of the "deadly toll" of Russian air strikes, helping convince him to sign off on the delivery of Patriot air defence missiles to Kyiv, according to an anecdote Trump told in the Oval Office: "I go home, I tell the first lady, 'I spoke to Vladimir today, we had a wonderful conversation.' And she says, 'Oh really, another city was just hit.'"

This suggests Melania has a "far greater influence" on her husband's political decisions than "many would assume", particularly given the perception that she spends little time at the White House at all.

'Agent Melania'

Melania's support for Ukraine is "not surprising at all" given that the country where she grew up has "no love for Russia", said Mary Jordan, author of "The Art of Her Deal: The Untold Story of Melania Trump". The first lady also has "more experience" than the current members of the US cabinet in "trying to get her point across" to the president, so might have influenced his change of heart.

Either way, Ukrainians are "celebrating" Melania on social media with memes, said The Guardian, including an image of her wearing a blazer with the Ukrainian Trident insignia, captioned: "Agent Melania Trumpenko". Since the Patriot announcement, there's been "a lot of love on social media" for her, said Business in Ukraine magazine.

But "something feels off about the whole thing", said James Ball in The i Paper. The way Trump "set up and delivered" his anecdote about Melania's latest remarks was a "laugh line" and not "the way someone who was devastated at the loss of life would tell the story".

No one should take his "apparent emotional awakening seriously" because he's "not an empathetic man"; he "just knows how to play one".