Ukraine's president and First Lady open up about family life and challenges during war
Ukraine's President and First Lady Volodomyr and Olena Zelenskyy have spoken to the media about family support, psychological challenges, and how cracking jokes help them through the darkest days of the war.
“When you see your children, sometimes you want to hold them, you want to support them,” the president told UK tabloid newspaper The Sun in an interview published on Nov. 20, admitting that the war has made his family life difficult and meetings with his wife challenging.
“Sometimes they cry a little bit. When they cry, you can’t cry. You have to be strong and you have to teach them also to be strong. If you want to support your children or your wife, or sometimes your parents, you have to show them that everything is okay, sometimes you have to find some jokes about it. Jokes help.”
"I have a lot of meetings (with Olena) online and offline. (We have them) more often than at the very beginning of the war. Of course, some security issues have influence on our life."
Asked if she was prepared for the role of First Lady during the full-scale war, Zelenskyy’s wife admitted to lack of preparation for the role and the absence of guidelines on how to perform it.
"It's a difficult question,” Zelesnka said in an interview with African media, acknowledging the great responsibility that comes with being the wife of the president of a country at war.
“I'll try to be as open as possible. Of course, no one is prepared for this. Being the wife of the president of any country is a challenging task that you have to realize for yourself, decide what role you will play.”
“Unfortunately, there are no methodological instructions or textbooks that teach you what to do or what to know."
Speaking about her psychological state, the First Lady said that her life currently revolves between two main areas – the office and home.
"And there are some business trips when there's a reason to go somewhere, but otherwise it's just work and what I do,” Zelenska said.
“So it's hard to talk about my psychological state. In particular, I take part in the all-Ukrainian mental health program, and it saves me, helps me. I want to see our victory and I don't want to be in a state where I can't be happy about it. So I have to maintain my psychological state. It seems to me that I'm succeeding. The human psyche is built to accept the conditions offered and to adapt over time. It is not easy, and the sense of responsibility does not disappear."
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