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image source, Archyde.com
Olena Zelenska said that she has hardly seen her husband, Volodymyr Zelensky, in these almost 3 months of war.
Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, gave a rare interview to her country’s press in which she appears alongside her husband, President Volodymyr Zelensky, for just the second time since the war began in late February.
Zelenska has been kept in secret locations for security reasons.
“Our family has been torn apart.as well as all Ukrainian families,” he said in the interview.
The reporter then asked her: “The war essentially took your husband away from you.”
“No one takes my husband from me, not even war,” Zelenska replied.
“But yes, he lives for his work, and we [su familia] we hardly see it. We didn’t see him for two and a half months. We talked on the phone. Now we are having some occasions to see each other. I am grateful for this opportunity [la entrevista]which allows us to spend time together”.
image source, Archyde.com
“A romantic encounter on television,” said the interviewer.
“Yes, a meeting on television. I am grateful,” replied the first lady, who has two children with Zelensky: a girl named Oleksandra and a boy named Kyrylo.
On the first day of Russian military action, February 24, Zelenska said she woke up to strange sounds from outside, “like probably everyone else.”
“It was dark and I saw that Volodymyr [Zelensky] was not by my side. He was already dressed, in a suit, but without a tie. I asked him what was going on and he told me: ‘It started’. I can’t describe the emotions…anxiety, stupor… He told me that and left. After that, we didn’t see each other for a long time.”
image source, Archyde.com
The first lady of the United States, Jill Biden, visited Olena Zelenska for Mother’s Day on May 8.
Next to Zelenska, the ukrainian president said that the end of the war in ukraine depends on diplomacy.
“I am very convinced of this. There are things that we cannot conclude without sitting down at a negotiating table (…) Because we want everything back, and Russia does not want to return anything,” Zelensky said.
The war in Ukraine is regarding to be three months old with no clear end on the horizon.
This weekend, the main Ukrainian negotiator, Mykhailo Podolyak, ruled out any possibility of a ceasefire with territorial concessions by Ukraine.
Podolyak alleges that this would allow the Russian troops to remain in those places and would facilitate possible future attacks.
After capturing the port city of Mariupol, Russian forces continue to attack the Donbas regionin eastern Ukraine.
It is believed that they are preparing to try to take the cities of Slovyansk and Severodonetsk.
This Sunday, Zelensky extended the martial law in Ukraine three more months, until August 23rd.
That law determines, for example, that men between the ages of 18 and 60 have to stay in the country to fight in the war.
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