Ukraine’s first lady told CNN her relationship
with her husband, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, was “on pause” as they were forbidden to see each other for long periods during the war.
In an interview aired Tuesday, Olena Zelenska told
CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that she is not allowed to see Zelenskyy very often
and when she does, it’s only for a short period of time.
Her words: “But at least I can physically feel him
next to me. This isn’t normal. It’s not a normal relationship when children
cannot see their father and have to talk to him on the phone. So our relationship
is on pause just as it is for all Ukrainians.
“We … are waiting to be reunited, to be together
again, to spend evenings together, to talk to the children about their
things.”
Both Zelenskyy and his wife have refused to
leave Ukraine since Russia invaded on February 24.
In the first two months of the war, the family was not
able to see each other at all. Zelenskyy lived in his office with his staff
while Zelenska and their two children, aged 17 and 9, were kept in a secret
location.
In her CNN interview, Zelenska also said the ongoing
war, which has moved away from Kyiv and intensified in the eastern Donbas
region, had taken a large toll on the country and that she currently
“cannot see the end of our suffering.”
“It’s very difficult to hold on for five months,”
Zelenska said. “We need to accumulate our strength; we need to save our
energy.”
