Ukrainian First Lady: "Our War Must Not Become Everyday Life"

First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska (right) [Image source=AP Yonhap News]

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[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] "All Ukrainians are targets of Russia."

Olena Zelenska, wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said this in an email interview with CNN on the 12th (local time), appealing, "Please do not get used to our sorrow."

The First Lady of Ukraine is the second priority target of the Russian military after the president. However, despite such dangers, Zelenska is protecting her homeland instead of fleeing.

She said, "All Ukrainians are enduring as if walking a tightrope," adding, "The people who were victims of the Russian missile attack while escaping from Kramatorsk recently were not the president's family, but just Ukrainians."

Zelenska has been focusing on children's issues. She said, "Before the war, we had been preparing for years to improve school meals to provide children with delicious and healthy food," but lamented, "Now we are talking not about healthy food but survival. It feels like we have been thrown back years, even decades."

Since Russia's invasion on February 24, Zelenska has been asking First Ladies around the world for help so that women and children can evacuate. She is also supplying incubators for babies born in ruined cities and helping refugees adapt to new spaces.

She has a 17-year-old daughter and a 9-year-old son with President Zelensky and is currently living with her two children. Zelenska revealed, "Due to the risk of being killed by the Russian military, my children and I are not living with my husband," and added, "I have been in contact with my husband only by phone for over a month."

She raised her voice, saying, "The whole world is watching Ukraine now," and "Our war must not become an everyday occurrence. Our victims must not be accepted as mere statistics." She also praised, "Contrary to the enemy's hopes, we have not become a crowd trembling in fear. Rather, we have united as an organized community," and "Ukrainians are truly amazing."

Zelenska especially emphasized that Ukrainian women are participating in all areas of the war. She said, "Women mostly serve as medical personnel in the military, while outside the military they are moving children and families to safe places," and stressed, "In some ways, women's roles in the war are much more diverse than men's."

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