#bt interview

Jeppe Elkjær Andersen

Apr 16, 2024 - 19:04

They see each other once a week at most - and there's a lot he never tells her.

She lives in an extremely special marriage. And now shares some rare details about life with Ukraine's world-famous president.

After more than two years, the war has left its mark not only on Ukraine, but also on its people.

No one has symbolized the Ukrainian people more than President Zelenskyj and his wife Olena. She admits that the hard times have also affected her as a person. She does so in a candid interview with B.T.

"War changes everyone," she says, looking up with sad eyes.

Before the Russian invasion of her native Ukraine, the former screenwriter suddenly found herself in an unfamiliar situation.

Her husband, the famous comedian Volodymyr Zelenskyj, had become President of Ukraine. Now she had to take on the role of First Lady of all Ukraine.

A completely different life.

However, the title of First Lady took on a whole new meaning on February 24, 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine.

Suddenly, her husband was world-famous and she had to find a way to be there for an entire nation that was in a fight for its life. A fight for its existence. A fight for her soul.

Both she and President Zelenskyj had to show strength in an almost impossible situation.

"You can't be brave when everyone around you is discouraged. It's a fairy tale," says Olena Zelenska, who B.T. met with Berlingske at a hotel in Copenhagen during the First Lady's second visit to Denmark.

"The image that people see of us is the result of a lot of work, where we try to communicate to the world that the Ukrainian President will lead the way in diplomacy. We are just more visible than others. But the real heroes are the Ukrainians who are defending us on the front line right now," she elaborates.

The first weeks and months of the Russian invasion were filled with despair in Ukraine.

Then came a period where Ukraine beat back the Russian invasion forces in several places.

But over the past several months, the situation has become difficult again.

First, a long-awaited offensive did not lead to the breakthrough many had hoped for.

And most recently, Russia has pushed Ukraine to the front line, while Ukrainian infrastructure is being bombed almost daily.

Morale is hard to keep up. But Olena Zelenska and her husband have a job. They must remain positive and hopeful.

Here they look inwards, says Olena Zelenska.

"I remember the first months of the war with the defense of the Kyiv region, when the people took matters into their own hands. It gave hope to the Ukrainian people."

She continues:

"Now we have to find our strength again. We must find it in our history, in our art, in our culture. Because we are up against an empire that enslaved us for hundreds of years. Now we have a chance to be free of it, forever. And that, I think, is what keeps us going."

The job of a First Lady in an invaded country can obviously be difficult.

Olena Zelenska doesn't see her husband as often as she would like.

Maybe once a week.

Here, they try to do things together that make time feel more normal.

"Sometimes... when things are difficult, I ask him to tell me something optimistic, something. And then he might tell me about a new military aid package. As a civilian, I don't understand how it will help us, but it often makes me happy," says Olena Zelenska.

She makes it clear that she doesn't get involved in things that are only for the president and his cabinet.

"That's how it is. The president is the president. He doesn't tell me about his plans, his deals or state secrets."

However, when there is the rare occasion that they do have time to spend some private time together as a couple, they have a fairly simple thing they resort to in order to cheer each other up.

"We like to watch movies together. For some reason, we like to watch movies from our childhood that we haven't seen in years - stupid comedies - just to relax. Just have an hour where you don't think."

As a family, when they get together, there are always private matters that need to be discussed. Just like any other family.

"We always have something to talk about. Our family, our children. There are always family things that we need to talk about, solve some important problems, make decisions," says Olena Zelenska.

But it's not just talk they take care of. Both Olena and Volodymyr have worked with humor in their previous lives.

And that's why it's important for them to laugh.

Even if the situation is unreal and brutal.

"We try to help each other remember to laugh. Somehow to laugh. But we don't always succeed," says Olena Zelenska.

And here she and her husband can draw on the Ukrainian history and culture that Olena Zelenska believes is so important for the survival of the nation.

"The Ukrainian poet Lesya Ukrainka described in a famous poem how to 'laugh through tears'. We try to laugh, not cry," says Olena Zelenska.