“There are women’s efforts in all these lines of war” in Ukraine, underlined Tuesday March 8 on franceinfo the Ukrainian opposition MP Lesia Vasylenko, who has chosen to stay near Kiev, after having sheltered her children.
franceinfo: Was the choice to stay in Ukraine difficult?
Lesia Vasylenko: It wasn’t difficult at all. I always knew that if a disaster like war happened in Ukraine, I would stay. I will stay with my people and with my country, because it is the only country that I have.
Are you ready to take up arms?
Yes I am ready. I did not join the territorial defense battalions because I am a mother of three children, so I cannot risk my life actively. As a deputy, as an official, I was equipped with a weapon since we Ukrainian parliamentarians know that we are the target of Russian weapons. There are plenty of women who fight. The Ukrainian army is an army with the highest proportion of women compared to other armies in the world. There are plenty of women who are already in military service. Many women have also enrolled in the territorial military battalions. There are plenty of women fighting on different fronts in this war. It’s a war that not only takes place with weapons and bombs, it’s also a war that takes place in the economic, international, humanitarian sphere. There are women’s efforts in all of these lines of war.
How did you explain your decision to your children, after having sheltered them?
I tell them the truth, that it’s war, that Ukraine is fighting for its right to live. They understood my decision, I hope. I hope I’ll still be able to talk to them, explain to them everything that’s going on.
“I am so proud that he is the president of Ukraine.” Lesia Vasylenko is a Ukrainian opposition MP who stayed in Kiev. She fully supports President Zelensky and is ready to take up arms to defend her country against the Russianshttps://t.co/ivPGXxVQgm pic.twitter.com/JmlBEgWf5o
— franceinfo (@franceinfo) March 8, 2022
Humanitarian corridors from Kiev are supposed to open this Tuesday morning: will you take them to leave the city?
The Ukrainian government is doing everything possible so that people can leave the cities which are really hit by the Russian air force and the whole Russian army. But what the Russians are offering us are humanitarian corridors to Russia. And that is already too dangerous for the majority of Ukrainians, who still stay in their city. They are heroes and heroines who are fighting on all lines of war for Ukraine to be independent. They are true believers in Ukrainian independence and freedom. For them, having an open corridor to go to Russia is the same as staying in their city, because in Russia they will be arrested, tortured and their lives will be threatened.
What relationship do you have with President Volodymyr Zelensky currently, since you are an opposition deputy?
He’s still alive, he’s still in Kiev. I’m an opposition MP, but right now I really think our Ukrainian president is a real president of Ukraine. He stays there with his army and he is truly an inspiration to the Ukrainian people, and I think to the whole world, indeed. Even though I am not from the same party as him, at the moment, I am very proud that he is the president of Ukraine.