Getty Olena Zelenska with her husband
Olena Zelenska is the wife of Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
The Ukrainian president’s last name is sometimes spelled as Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Volodymyr Zelensky is the president of Ukraine who has been standing defiantly against the Russian invasion of his country.
He is a former television actor who starred in a show about a man who accidentally becomes president. Now his videos from the besieged city of Kyiv are giving Ukrainians hope and turning Zelensky into a heroic figure.
After the Russians invaded Ukraine, Zelensky said: “The enemy has marked me as target number one, my family as target number two,” according to The Washington Post. Today reported that the First Lady’s location is not currently known for her own safety.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Zelensky’s Wife Pleaded on Instagram for the Media to Tell the ‘Terrible Truth’ That ‘Russian Invaders Are Killing Ukrainian Children’
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In March 6, 2022, Zelensky’s wife shared photos on Instagram of five children who died during Russia’s attacks on Ukraine.
“I appeal to all the unbiased media in the world! Tell this terrible truth: Russian invaders are killing Ukrainian children,” she wrote.
“Tell it to Russian mothers — let them know what exactly their sons are doing here, in Ukraine. Show these photos to Russian women — your husbands, brothers, compatriots are killing Ukrainian children! Let them know that they are personally responsible for the death of every Ukrainian child because they gave their tacit consent to these crimes.”
She shared multiple posts in different languages, sharing photos of children. Her post reads in full:
The Russian occupiers are killing Ukrainian children. Consciously and cynically.
18-month-old Kirill from Mariupol was urgently taken to the hospital by his parents. He was wounded by the shelling, and doctors could do nothing.
Alice from Okhtyrka. She could have turned eight years old. However, she died in the shelling with her grandfather, who was protecting her.
Polina from Kyiv. She died during the shelling on the streets of our capital, along with her parents and brother. Her sister is in critical condition.
Arseniy, 14 years old. A fragment of the projectile hit his head. The medics could not reach the boy under the gunfire. Arseniy bled to death.
Sofia, 6 years old. She, along with her оne and half month old brother, mother, grandmother, and grandfather, were shot to death in their car. The family tried to leave Nova Kakhovka.
I have to tell you about it. At least 38 children have already died in Ukraine. And this figure might be increasing this very moment due to the shelling of our peaceful cities!
When people in Russia say that their troops are not hurting the civilian population, show them these pictures! Show them the faces of these children who weren’t even given a chance to grow up. How many more children must die to convince Russian troops to stop firing and allow humanitarian corridors?
We need corridors in the hottest cities in Ukraine right now! Hundreds of children die there in basements without food and medical care. Russian soldiers shoot families who try to leave the buildings. They also kill volunteers who try to help.
I appeal to all the unbiased media in the world!
Tell this terrible truth: Russian invaders are killing Ukrainian children. Tell it to Russian mothers – let them know what exactly their sons are doing here, in Ukraine.
Show these photos to Russian women – your husbands, brothers, compatriots are killing Ukrainian children! Let them know that they are personally responsible for the death of every Ukrainian child because they gave their tacit consent to these crimes.
To NATO countries: close the sky over Ukraine! Save our children, because tomorrow it will save yours! #NoFlyZoneUA #closeUAskyNOW #NATOclosethesky #stoprussia
In another post, she urged the First Ladies of the world to express their voices about the attack.
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“The First Ladies are asking me these days how they can help Ukraine. My answer is – tell the truth to the world!” she wrote. “❗Speak up! What is happening in Ukraine is not a ‘special military operation,’ as Putin says, but a full-scale war, where the aggressor is the Russian Federation.”
2. Olena, a Writer, Once Described Herself as More Comfortable ‘in the Shade’
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According to Womenua.today, Olena Zelenskaya “is one of the founders of Studio Kvartal 95,” which is the highest-rated, largest production Company in Ukraine.
The site reported that she is one of the writers for the studio’s projects.
In particular, she helped work on a comedy called “Liga Smichu,” the site reported.
As First Lady, the site reports, she focuses on “the health of future generations, equal opportunities and cultural diplomacy.”
According to Ukraine Vogue, she led a private life before Zelensky became president. “Until April 2019, we knew little about Olena Zelenska. She was rarely spotted at the beau monde parties, she did not give interviews, and she did not appear in glossy magazine,” the site reports.
She told the site:
I am a non-public person. But the new realities require their own rules, and I’m trying to comply with them. I can’t say that publicity or communication with the press is stressful for me. But I prefer staying backstage. My husband is always on the forefront, while I feel more comfortable in the shade. I am not the life of the party, I do not like to tell jokes. It’s not in my character. But I found reasons for myself in favour of publicity. One of them is the opportunity to attract people’s attention to important social issues. At the same time, this does not concern the publicity of my children: I have not posted their photos on social networks before, and now I will not either.
3. Zelenska Has Two Children With the President & Promised to Be ‘Next to Them’ During the Invasion
(Getty)Olena Zelenska with Volodymyr Zelensky
According to Glamour, Zelensky and Olena Volodymyrivn Zelenska have a daughter, Olexandra, and a son, Kiril.
When the Russians invaded, she wrote on Instagram, “Today I will not have panic and tears. I will be calm and confident. My children are looking at me. I will be next to them. And next to my husband. And with you.”
She told Ukraine Vogue before the invasion,
Life hasn’t changed, but circumstances have. I do not have enough time alone with myself. I have got two kids, so I have rarely been alone before. I probably have had my only private space in the car, while driving. Now they have deprived me of this – I am always guarded. Now a bathroom is my only retreat (laughs). But I am lucky with people who are in my personal space now: they keep silence when I need this silence, and can maintain a conversation when they feel that it’s necessary.
112International reports that Olena Zelenska “was born in Kryvyi Rih on February 16, 1978. She and her future husband were schoolmates, but they were not acquainted.” They later met again, though, when she studied at “the Faculty of Civil Engineering at Kryvyi Rih National University, and Volodymyr Zelensky got a degree in law at the Kryvyi Rih Economic Institute.”
They married in 2003 after dating for eight years, the site reports. She is an author who helps with his shows and productions. She kept a low profile during his campaign, the site reported.
4. Zelenska Was Skeptical About Her Husband’s Presidential Campaign at First
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Zelenska was skeptical of her husband’s political ambitions but decided not to “spoil the mood.”
“And when I was told that it would happen, I was already prepared to have little changes in my and family life. I can spoil the mood, do not support, put obstacles, but it’s not constructive… I try to keep myself, calm down. So far, it seems that I can do it,” she said, according to Opinionua.com.
She described herself to the publication as primarily supporting her husband, saying, “So far, I’ve taken time out in order not to think about it. I know this is a difficult role… In general, the First Lady does not have to take any main roles. This tandem should repeat what is happening in the family. We have the leader and I try to support him. When someone takes responsibility – it’s very convenient, so I try not to drag too much attention to myself.”
5. Zelensky Was a Television Comedian Before Becoming President of Ukraine
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Pravda once compared Zelensky’s election to the plot of the Robin Williams’ movie “Man of the Year,” in which Williams played the star of a satirical political show who becomes president. Zelensky has fashioned an image as a man of the people warring against corruption. In one scene from his television show, he says to a taxi driver of the political elite, “Who are we for them? Clowns, right. I’m a clown, you’re a clown, 40 million clowns.”
Zelensky is relatively young, and he’s completely new to geopolitics. His July 25, 2019 telephone conversation with Trump led to Trump’s impeachment because the American president pressures Zelensky in that call to investigate his 2020 presidential rival Joe Biden and Biden’s son, Hunter.
The president has earned praise for his courageous videos during the Russian invasion, during which he has refused to leave Ukraine.
Above is one of Zelensky’s videos from Kyiv with Russians closing in.
The translation reads,
Good evening to everyone. The leader of the faction (David Arakhamia) is here, the head of the presidential office (Andriy Yermak) is here, prime minister (Denys) shnygal is ere, (Mykhaylo) Podolyak (advisor to presidential office) is here, the president is here. We are all here. Our soldiers are here. The citizens are here, and we are here. We defend our independence. That’s how it’ll go. Glory to our defenders, both male and female. Glory to Ukraine!
Zelensky is relatively young and he’s completely new to geopolitics. Zelensky’s name is sometimes spelled Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Не вірте фейкам.
Ukraine’s embassy to Great Britain tweeted that Zelensky had refused the United States’ offer to evacuate him as the Russian advance continues. “The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride.” – @ZelenskyyUa on the US evacuation offer,” the embassy tweeted, adding, “Ukrainians are proud of their President💙”
According to BBC, Zelensky “starred in the long-running satirical drama Servant of the People in which his character accidentally becomes Ukraine’s president. He plays a teacher who is elected after his expletive-laden rant about corruption goes viral on social media.” The character’s name was Vasyl Holoborodko.
According to USA Today, Zelensky, 41, is a lawyer “but made his name in comedy and show business.” He had never held elective office before he was elected in May, but he won 73 percent of the vote, the newspaper reported.
According to BBC, Zelensky was an “Instagram star” with millions of followers and a “millionaire thanks to his production company Kvartal 95″ even before his election in May 2019.