Ukraine First Lady Olena Zelenska Is a Bright Light for Her Country in a Time of Darkness
Before her husband was elected president of Ukraine in 2019, Olena Zelenska worked as an architect and comedy screenwriter. As First Lady, her focus shifted to school nutrition reform, gender equality, and organizing an international summit of first ladies and gentlemen. In February of last year, when Russia invaded Ukraine, she pivoted once again, advocating for her people on the global stage, spearheading rehabilitation projects, and serving as a seemingly endless well of strength and empathy. She’s absorbed countless stories of tragedy, each more harrowing than the last, but these stories are what propel her forward, she says.
“In a local hospital, a Ukrainian mother met four children whose father was killed during Russian shellings. He had raised them alone, and now they lost him as well. So this young mother of two children took in four more,” she says, offering a recent example of the bravery that sustains her. “This story reflects Ukraine and its women. They respond to losses and grief by expressing love and doing good. When you see a Ukrainian woman somewhere in the world, remember what she stands for. She is a person from a country fighting for life and knows the value of it like no other. Our current experience is how we influence others, but I would not wish anyone to become a hero at the price we all pay.”
On the source of her bravery
“Everyone is afraid of something during war. If not for themselves, then for others, for loved ones. Feeling scared and still choosing to overcome this fear is to be a human. There is a proverb in Ukraine, ‘What the eyes fear, the hands do.’ It indeed describes Ukrainians.”
On her accomplishments since becoming First Lady
“It is inspiring when you manage to fix what the war has mutilated and ruined. When you see a boy named Ivan, who was run over by a Russian tank, standing on a new prosthesis—and even surfing. When a girl from Bucha named Sasha, who lost her arm after being shot by Russian soldiers, masters a bionic prosthesis. These children are participants of a program we are implementing with American doctors.
“It is inspiring when children from the village of Yahidne, who spent long days in a basement without food in Russian captivity, start to smile and communicate again. With the most challenging war experiences, Ukrainian psychologists are now rehabilitating these children. When you see that you can counteract the destruction of this war with restoration, it is the most fulfilling emotion you can feel in war conditions.”
A playground stands in front of an apartment building destroyed as a result of Russian shelling in Izium, northeastern Ukraine.
On what she hopes her legacy might be
“You can think about legacy only while writing memoirs in a peaceful country. And even then, it will sound too pretentious for me. Who can possibly know which of one’s works will be remembered? For example, a talented Ukrainian writer of the 19th century, Yevhen Hrebinka, wrote many pieces. But, for some reason, he is most prominently remembered for a romance, Black Eyes, which is also unfairly considered Russian. So, it is very presumptuous to predict any inheritance or legacy.”
“I want people to benefit from my deeds. For example, I want the school nutrition reform, which we launched a month before the invasion and restarted in wartime as planned, to change the culture of nutrition of children and adults towards healthier eating. Furthermore, I want the national program of psychological support launched last year to help Ukrainians overcome the stress and anxiety of war and be able to recover fully from it. Finally, I would like the summit of first ladies and gentlemen, which I initiated, to reveal all the possibilities of soft power in the world.”
“I initiated this project two years ago. I wanted to change the vision and attitude of society toward first ladies. Spouses of the first persons of states can implement grand projects, and bring benefits and practical results to their activities. The summit aims to unite first ladies and gentlemen into a community, provide them with a platform to exchange experience, launch joint projects, and join efforts to achieve a common result.”
“I hope that the cultural projects that we are implementing in wartime—such as the Ukrainian Bookshelf (sending Ukrainian books to the libraries of the world), Books without Borders (sending books for children of internally displaced Ukrainians), and providing Ukrainian audio guides in the museums of the world—will not only preserve our culture from the aggressor but will also help our fellow citizens scattered around the world feel connected to their homeland. And I would like to see all my pre-war projects on barrier-free, equality, and inclusivity be implemented in the renewed, rebuilt Ukraine. I want these values not to be an exception but a norm of life. Equal opportunities for everyone. That would be the best end result.”
Olena Zelenska and U.S. First lady Jill Biden join a group of children at School 6, a public school that has taken in displaced students in Uzhhorod on May 8, 2022.
On the power of humor in extremely difficult situations
“To quote the classic Ukrainian writer Lesya Ukrainka: ‘In order not to cry, I laughed.’ Humor in war times is always through tears of loss. And at the same time, it gives strength and emotional release. Since we all live on social media, we have a particular genre of humor: memes. For example, there is a joke about this: “Russians started shelling power plants to make Ukrainians stop writing memes about the aggressor.”
“In the case of the woman who shot down a drone near her house by throwing a can of canned tomatoes at it from her balcony, everyone laughed, and many thought it was fiction. But journalists found the woman who did it. It turned out to be a true story—she just had nothing else at hand at that moment. That’s all you need to know about the Ukrainian resistance. Anyone, with anything at hand, at any moment, will defend themselves. It is laughter through tears. But still laughter.”
“Humor is our psychological shield. But, I confess, I have not been able to laugh carefree since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.”
A child holding a Ukrainian flag during a rally regarding the anniversary of Russian’s invasion on Ukraine.
On her hopes for 2023
“All Ukrainians have made one New Year’s wish this year. It is a common one for all of us: victory. Not just peace but victory over violence, over evil that came to our homes and ruined our country. Even children’s fairy tales teach us about this outcome, so we all hope for it. It means many countless things: returning to our homes, reuniting families who are now separated, safety, the opportunity for children not to study in bomb shelters and not to shudder at the sounds in the sky but believe in new dreams and plans.”
A version of this story appears in the April 2023 issue of ELLE.
Melissa Giannini is the features director of ELLE.
