Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, has said she believes Russia plans to destroy her country.
Zelenska told the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita in an interview revealing the deep upheavals the conflict has wrought on her family and fellow citizens that the invasion of Ukraine “completely changed everything, including our lives”.
In a remote interview released on April 28, Zelenska said that since the invasion began on February 24, President Volodymyr Zelensky had moved “to Bankowa Street (the president’s office in Kiev), at work,” while she stayed with their children. †
“There are no days off from work and no time off in war. Often you don’t even know the day of the week. There is only what is today, what needs to be done,” she added.
Zelenksa said her children are studying remotely as she collaborates through her initiative with other first ladies, governments of individual countries, activists and volunteers to organize evacuations of sick and orphaned children to safe places.
When asked if the war has changed her husband, she said, “For some reason I hear this question a lot. But the war has not changed him.”
You have to understand that he’s always been like that. He was a man you could rely on. A man who will never fail. Now the whole world has seen what may not have been apparent to everyone before.”
In response to a question about what she thinks Vladimir Putin wants to achieve in Ukraine, Zelenska said Russia’s message continues to evolve and “this leads to the conclusion that their plans are constantly changing or don’t work logically. But I’m not judging them by statements but by deeds.
“What the Russian troops are doing in Ukraine leads directly to the conclusion that the Russians are trying to destroy the Ukrainians, which is their true aim.
“This conclusion comes to my mind when I see the destruction of Mariupol, from which even safe evacuation through humanitarian corridors was not allowed, when I see the bombing of residential buildings in Kharkov, Chernihiv, Odessa, the railway station in Kramatorsk, destroyed by a Russian missile, which killed more than 50 people who tried to leave,” she said.
“And of course I came to this conclusion after the war crimes committed by the Russians in the Kiev region, where we continue to discover mass graves of murdered, executed non-combatants, women and children,” she said.
“Yes, I am convinced that the Russians want to destroy us and commit genocide. And it does not matter what they say, because their words do not match their actions.”
Zelenska added that she is grateful to Poland for helping Ukrainian refugees because they are “looking forward to the most important news – that we won and that they can go home”.
She added: “I’ll be happy if I can pass it on to them one day, hopefully as soon as possible.”