First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska gave an exclusive interview to NBC News during her visit to Washington. She talked about the purpose of the trip, her speech in Congress and her personal attitude to the war that has been ongoing in Ukraine for more than 150 days already.
“We feel great support from the world. But I am here in the US so that this support does not stop, as we crucially need it. It needs to come faster,” the President’s wife said.
Speaking in Congress, Olena Zelenska asked for weapons for Ukraine to “protect our home and the right to wake up alive in it.” So when the journalist asked if the scenario in which Ukraine would give part of the territory to the occupiers was an acceptable option for the end of the war for her, the First Lady emphasized: neither she nor any Ukrainian can imagine that.
“I give such a simple, perhaps even too simple, example: if a criminal breaks into your house, destroys everything around, kills your relatives, terrorizes you, you live in fear, you resist. And then someone offers you: let’s stop, talk to him, give him the living room, and live in the remaining space. I think this is nonsense,” she explained her position.
Olena Zelenska also said that the most difficult thing for her personally during the war is the constant feeling of danger in which children in Ukraine are.
“As First Lady, I feel that all of our children are in danger. But as a mother, I constantly think that mine are also in danger. Worrying about children is my pain that I bear, but it is the same as that of other mothers in Ukraine. That’s why I never separate my children from others,” she said.
“Honestly, I don’t know how Russian propagandists live, who say that they allegedly want to target military facilities only. I haven’t heard a single word of sympathy or apology for the fact that civilians, especially children, are dying. We cannot forgive this,” Olena Zelenska emphasized.