With her husband President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, Olena Zelenska (44 years old) has been facing war in her country since February 24, 2022. Caused by Vladimir Putin’s Russia, this conflict has been setting this state on fire for weeks. Two years ago, the first lady on the cover of the Ukrainian edition of vogue, gorgeous in the photos. But the time of glamorous and country shoots is long gone, it is a woman of action that we find in the magazine SHE. But what doesn’t change, war or peace, is being a devoted mother.
Longtime lovers, married since 2003, Olena and the hero of the series servant of the people are parents of Oleksandra (born in 2005) and Kirilo (2013), with whom they seem very close. Today, President Zelensky can no longer see his family, they are still in Ukraine but in a secret place to protect them. In the magazine She, the first lady Ukrainian explains what its missions consist of: “The first, as the president’s wife: I work with the media, I answer interviews and I participate in humanitarian projects.“Indeed, it is she who notably makes the link with her French counterpart Brigitte Macron on the reception of refugee children.
“The second, as a mother. I have been teaching my son for two months. For security reasons, he cannot take the same online courses as his class. I ask his classmates what they did each day and we go back to it together: Ukrainian, English, mathematics… Fortunately, he’s in CE2, I can still teach him something. To be honest, it helps ease my anxieties.” Proud of her close-knit family, Olena Zelenska has always wanted to preserve her children from their father’s status. But the war complicated things. In vogue, she was glad that her son could pursue a normal schooling, but that is now impossible.
What does she miss the most today as a wife and mother? “The sweetness of everyday life, when we didn’t ask ourselves every evening: will we be alive tomorrow? I miss family meals, children running, laughter, being together…“, says Olena Zelenska in She, in a tone that one can easily imagine as filled with sadness.
Find the full interview in the magazine SHE of May 12, 2022.