"It's very difficult to hold on for five months. We cannot see the end of our suffering, so we need to accumulate our strength, we need to save our energy," Zelenska said.
Zelenska spoke to CNN at a crucial moment in the fight. Though Kyiv racked up a series of early victories in the initial aftermath of Russia's invasion, the tide appears to be turning in the Kremlin's favor, especially in the east.
When asked about her husband, President Volodymyr Zelensky, Zelenska said their “relationship is on pause, just as it is for all Ukrainians.
"We, just like every family, are waiting to be reunited, to be together again."
Zelenska on coping with personal strain of war (WATCH):
“I can see him sometimes in -- for a short time and not very often, but 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 many -- well, all Ukrainians. And we, just like every family, are waiting to be reunited, to be together again, to spend evenings, to have dinner together, to talk to the children about their things, and not only the children’s things but my daughter, for example, is a young adult now.
But we’re hanging in, we are -- I like this image, we’re holding on just like that cupboard in Borodianka when the occupiers bombed a building -- bombed all the buildings there. And we saw this photo of one of the buildings, and there was a wall remaining. And there was a wardrobe or a cupboard that stood undamaged. So we’re holding on. We’re telling each other, how are you? I’m like that cupboard in Borodianka. So I’m trying to hold on, just like that cupboard.”
Zelenska on Russian missile strike on Kremenchuk shopping mall (WATCH):
“This is indeed terrorism. We cannot call this any other name. Yesterday in Kremenchuk more than 1,000 people were in the shopping mall. This is an ordinary shopping mall. There were children and adults there. We are all shocked. And unfortunately, we're shocked yet again in this war. We were shocked many times. I don't know what else the occupiers can shock us with.”
Zelenska on how she keeps up morale as the war stretches into its fifth month (WATCH):
“In the first weeks and months and we were like sprinters, we were doing a short run at high speed. We gave it 200 percent. But now, everybody now is running a marathon. We need to calculate our strength; we need to hold on.
As you said, it’s very difficult to hold on for five months. We cannot see -- physically or mentally, we cannot see the end of our suffering. So we need to accumulate our strength, we need to save our energy, and all Ukrainians must do it.
It’s very difficult for all of us. And we need -- we are trying to find joy in simple things, maybe stroke a cat or do something simple. But we're all looking -- we all look forward for this war to end.”
FULL TRANSCRIPT
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN HOST: First Lady
Olena Zelenska, welcome to our program.
OLENA ZELENSKA, FIRST LADY OF UKRAINE
(through translator): Hello, Christiane. And thank you for inviting me to do
this interview.
AMANPOUR: Well, I'm really happy to talk to
you, but obviously it comes at a very sad moment for you, for your country and
a moment where, yet again, everybody realizes that anybody can be a target.
After that missile attack on the mall, Kremenchuk, you know, nearly 20 people
dead.
What is your reaction to that? How are
ordinary people reacting to that?
ZELENSKA (through translator): Well, of
course, we cannot react in any other way than be shocked. This is indeed
terrorism. We cannot call this any other name.
Yesterday in Kremenchuk more than 1,000
people were in the shopping mall. This is an ordinary shopping mall. There were
children and adults there. And you've just said how many people died; we still
don't know their (ph) final number.
We are all shocked. And unfortunately,
we're shocked yet again in this war. We were shocked many times. I don't know
what else the occupiers can shock us with.
AMANPOUR: So let me ask you, it is now into
the fifth month of this war. Your husband, the president, told the G7 leaders
that this war had to be ended by the end of this year.
Can I ask you about morale -- your morale,
your children's morale, the people's morale? Because everybody's been so
impressed by the heroic resistance that Ukraine has mounted, but what is the
morale five months in now?
ZELENSKA (through translator): You know, in
the first weeks and months and we were like sprinters, we were doing a short
run at high speed. We gave it 200 percent.
But now, everybody now is running a
marathon. We need to calculate our strength; we need to hold on.
As you said, it’s very difficult to hold on
for five months. We cannot see -- physically or mentally, we cannot see the end
of our suffering. So we need to accumulate our strength, we need to save our
energy, and all Ukrainians must do it.
It’s very difficult for all of us. And we
need -- we are trying to find joy in simple things, maybe stroke a cat or do
something simple. But we're all looking -- we all look forward for this war to
end.
AMANPOUR: That’s really poignant, what you
say, try to do simple and beautiful things.
How do you specifically feel about your
safety? We know, you told us when we last talked over e-mail in April, that at
the beginning of the war -- it happened, you barely were able to say goodbye to
your husband. He sent you and the kids somewhere else in Ukraine to be safe.
Now, I understand you can come back to Kyiv
more often, more regularly. How do you specifically feel about yours and your
family’s safety?
ZELENSKA (through translator): Yes,
fortunately, those two months when I didn’t see my husband at all, that’s in
the past. I can see him sometimes in -- for a short time and not very often,
but 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 many -- well, all
Ukrainians.
I would say that half of our population are
apart, are not together. And we, just like every family, are waiting to be
reunited, to be together again, to spend evenings, to have dinner together, to
talk to the children about their things, and not only the children’s things but
my daughter, for example, is a young adult now.
But we’re hanging in, we are -- I like this
image, we’re holding on just like that cupboard in Borodyanka when the
occupiers bombed a building -- bombed all the buildings there.
And we saw this photo of one of the
buildings, and there was a wall remaining. And there was a wardrobe or a
cupboard that stood undamaged. So we’re holding on.
We’re telling each other, how are you? I’m
like that cupboard in Borodyanka. So I’m trying to hold on just like that
cupboard.
AMANPOUR: It’s amazing you say that because
I witnessed that myself in Borodyanka and we filmed it and we broadcast it; the
cupboard, the table, the chair, the coat that was still remaining. So it was a
still life.
Tell me -- you've just spoken about your
daughter, tell me about your son. He is much younger. And obviously, the war,
he’s not being sheltered from it. He knows what’s going on.
What does he think about weapons, soldiers,
about the military unfolding on the ground?
ZELENSKA (through translator): You know,
there isn’t much you can hide from our children these days, and I’m not going
to hide it. He lives in the same information space as me.
As a boy he is interested in military
affairs. And he is watching our action, the arrival of weapons from our
partners just like all Ukrainians. He knows about it all, about all kinds of
guns that we’re using.
And on the one hand, it is a boy’s dream
about heroic feats. But on the other hand, it’s very sad that my child is
growing up like this That we have to -- we were raising our children, we
weren’t raising them for war, we were raising them for peace.
We wanted them to see their future without
a war. So we are very much hoping that this military mood will somehow change
to a peaceful one, and that he can imagine our life and that we can put our
life on a peaceful footing.
AMANPOUR: Tell me about your work with
mental health. In other words, the challenges faced by children and women in
Ukraine right now, especially since there does seem to be a stigma in many
parts of your world on the issue of mental health.
There doesn’t seem to be, you know, like in
the United States or elsewhere, as many mental health providers. Is that a
challenge?
ZELENSKA (through translator): Yes, you are
right. Maybe this is something to do with the history of our country. Many people,
especially elderly people, they lived under the Soviet Union when there was no
quality mental health assistance at the time.
And many of them see something like this as
-- well, whenever they see a word that has the prefix "psycho" there,
they feel this is something wrong and we need to overcome this stigma. And we
need to make people realize that, if they are unwell mentally, they need to
seek specialist help.
But I think stigma is about the elderly,
that's more of the older generation. Younger people, like me, have a different
attitude. And indeed, they will seek, when they do need, mental health
assistance.
We can see people who saw the death of
their loved ones, who were held under occupation or maybe in captivity, many of
them are children and many can have post-traumatic stress. So all of that needs
to be diagnosed, and we need to treat this.
So we have a national program for mental
health assistance. And we are trying to minimize the consequences of this
horrific war for our society and for every person.
AMANPOUR:
Last year you organized a conference, First Ladies and First Gentlemen
in Kyiv. And you're trying to do it again this year or you say you will do it
again this year. Tell me what will be -- what it will be about, what you're
trying to achieve.
ZELENSKA (through translator): Thank you for this question. It is important
for me because last year, at last, we succeeded in creating this professional
union, if you could say, for first ladies and first gentlemen because, until
then, there was no such association.
And this enabled me in the first months to
also get help from our first -- for other first ladies for our humanitarian
programs. So yes, we want to continue this again. And of course, in -- when the war is on, of
course, not everybody can come physically. So we are trying to have a hybrid
format so those who can join us by video, then, they will do so. There will be
big video links between cities. And we will be discussing human resources,
human capital, what can a person endure after such a crisis that we are
undergoing.
AMANPOUR:
It's really important. And your country; and yourself; and your husband,
the president, have done so much to keep Ukraine connected with the rest of the
world.
And of course, since the beginning of the
war we've all noticed, and we've all watched and listened to, the president's
speeches every night that he does with selfies or he's filmed.
I just wanted to know, because you are a
writer yourself and you've had not just a personal union, but a professional
union, during your husband's entertainment career -- you're a writer -- what do
you think of those speeches?
ZELENSKA (through translator): Thank you for your question. I'm not literary
writer. I worked on screenplays, and it was a television show. Of course, I
understand how a speech can be improved, to reach out to people.
But truly, my husband doesn't need help. He
knows what he needs to say and how to say it. Sometimes I -- as everybody else,
I am too impressed. And I think this was a very good idea.
He is in touch with the Ukrainians every
night and everybody knows that he is in (ph) post, he's on duty. And they find
out important information from him that they need to know, you know, just to
maintain calm and to go to bed peacefully and hope -- with the hope that
everything will be all right in the morning.
AMANPOUR: First Lady Olena Zelenska, thank
you for joining us.
ZELENSKA (through translator): Thank you
very much and goodbye.
- CNN’s Amanpour
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