While the president’s focus is on the military struggle against Russian forces, the first lady focused on humanitarian and children’s issues, working to raise global awareness of the suffering of ordinary Ukrainians as a result of the war.
Madam First Lady, given everything that’s going on, how are you and your family doing?
It’s like walking a tightrope: If you start thinking about how you do it, you’re wasting time and balance. So to endure, you just have to move on and do what you do. In the same way, as far as I know, all Ukrainians hold.
Many of those who have escaped the battlefields alone, who have seen death, say that the main cure after the experience is to act, to do something, to be useful to someone. I am personally supported in trying to protect and support others. Disciplines of responsibility.
When you became first lady, you were committed to making children at the center of your work. How devastating was it to see Ukrainian children, including yours, suffer in a war zone?
And so it happened: Children and their needs were one of the main areas of my work, along with the introduction of … equal rights for all Ukrainians. Before the war, we started a reform of school nutrition, preparing for several years to be tasty and healthy at the same time, so that fewer children get sick.
How do I feel now, you ask? I have the feeling that we have been thrown back years and decades.
Now we are not talking about healthy food, but about food in general. It’s about the survival of our children! We are no longer discussing, as before, what is the best equipment for schools – [instead] education for millions of children is in question.
We can’t talk about a healthy lifestyle for children – the number one goal is to save [them] at all.
Half of our children were forced to go abroad; thousands were physically and psychologically injured. On February 23 [the day before Russia invaded Ukraine]they were ordinary European students with a schedule and plans for the holidays.
Imagine that you have built and renovated a house and just put flowers on the window sill; and now it is destroyed, and in the ruins you have to light a fire to keep warm. This has happened with policies for our children and with each family as a whole.
Tell us about the work you do in support of Ukrainian women and refugee children? What more can the world do to help on this front?
Now I work in several directions. In the summer, we managed to create the summit of the world’s first ladies and gentlemen, and now my colleagues are real allies in this.
First, we evacuate our most vulnerable – the children with [cancer], [those with] disability and orphans – to countries that agree to accept them for treatment and rehabilitation. The main route passes through Poland, and from there – to other European countries.
Second, we import incubators into Ukraine to help newborns in cities that have been bombed by Russians. Many hospitals have power outages and children’s lives are in danger. Therefore, we need devices that save lives without interruption. Two such devices have already been delivered and eight more incubators are expected to be delivered.
Thirdly, we are accelerating the adaptation of refugees – children and their mothers – to the new place, because humanitarian aid alone is not enough: children need accelerated socialization and schooling in a new place. This is especially true of the thousands of children with autism who have found themselves abroad. We are now working to make it easier for them to access classes, otherwise their development will simply stop.
Together with the embassies, we are coordinating events in support of Ukraine – several international concerts have already raised funds for humanitarian aid to Ukrainians.
Have you been able to see your husband since the beginning of the conflict?
Vladimir and his team actually live in the president’s office. Because of the danger, my children and I were forbidden to stay there. So for more than a month we only communicate by phone.
The whole world is inspired by your husband’s military leadership in Ukraine. You married him in 2003 and have known him since you were both at university. Did he always know he had that in him?
I have always known that he is and will be a reliable support for me. Then he became a wonderful father and support for our family. And now he showed the same features.
He has not changed. It’s just that more people saw it through my eyes.
You have a 17-year-old daughter Sasha and a 9-year-old son Cyril. How did you explain the war to them? Do they stay with you?
Fortunately, the children are with me. And as I said, when we have someone to take care of, it’s very disciplining. By the way, this also applies to the children themselves – they have grown dramatically during this time and also feel responsible to each other and to others.
Nothing specific had to be explained. We’re just talking about everything that’s going on. When I watch the interviews of the children from Bucha or hear the stories of my friends about their children, I understand that children understand everything no better than adults. They look at the essence. As one young child said, “Why are the Russians so mean to us? Apparently they were beaten at home?”
You are reported to be the second highest target of Russian forces after her husband. How do you maintain your determination in the face of such a danger? What made you choose to stay in Ukraine?
For some reason, I am constantly asked this question. But if you look closely, it becomes clear that every Ukrainian is a target for the Russians: every woman, every child.
Those killed that day by a Russian rocket [while] trying to evacuate from Kramatorsk, they were not members of the presidential family, but simply Ukrainians. So the number one goal for the enemy is all of us.
Your husband has spoken directly to Russian with the Russian people, but it is obviously difficult to contact them. Given the atrocities committed against your people, do you have a message, especially for Russian mothers and wives, that you think they should hear right now?
The level of Russian propaganda is often compared to Goebbels’ propaganda during World War II. But I think it exceeds [that]because during World War II there was no internet and no access to information as there is now.
Now everyone can see the war crimes – for example, committed by the Russians in Bucha, where the bodies of civilians with their hands tied just lie in the streets.
But the problem is that the Russians don’t want to see what the whole world sees, [in order] to make you feel more comfortable. After all, it’s easier to say, “It’s all fake,” and go have your coffee, than to read the story of a specific person who has died, to look at her grieving relatives and friends.
For example, read the story of one of the victims [in] Bucha, a woman named Tatiana, who was shot by a Russian bullet, and her husband, who asked the invaders to take away the body, but were beaten and tied up.
How do I make the Russians see this? I am increasingly inclined to think that, unfortunately, not at all, they are blind in the faith. They do not want to hear and see. I will not turn to them again.
The main thing for Ukraine today is that the whole other world hears and sees us, and it is important that our war does not become “ordinary” so that our victims do not become statistics. That’s why I communicate with people through foreign media.
Don’t get used to our grief!
You used your social media accounts as a platform to pay tribute to Ukrainian soldiers and the Ukrainian resistance. How proud are you of your country – especially what you called the “female face” of the Ukrainian resistance?
On the first day of the war, it became clear that there was no panic. Yes, the Ukrainians did not believe in war – we believed in civilized dialogue. But when the attack happened, we did not become a “frightened crowd,” as the enemy had hoped. No. We have become an organized community.
The political and other contradictions that exist in every society immediately disappeared. Everyone gathered to defend their home.
I see examples every day and I never get tired of writing about it. Yes, the Ukrainians are amazing.
Indeed, I write a lot about our women, because their participation is everywhere – they are in the armed forces and the defense forces, most of them are medics. And they are the ones who take children and families to safety. For example, only they can go abroad. So, in a sense, their role is even more diverse than that of men; it’s more than a draw!
Editor’s Note: This Q&A interview is slightly edited for clarity and length.
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