When Russia invaded Ukraine early in the morning of February 24, 2022, Olena Zelenska, President Zelenskyys’ wife, was at home in the presidential residence with her husband and their two children, Oleksandra and Kyrylo, ages 18 and 9 respectively. While the president immediately made it clear to everyone that he was not fleeing, as the Russians expected him to do, Olena and the two kids vanished from sight. Because they were considered primary targets of the invaders, they were moved by security guards to various hidden locations. Like so many other Ukrainian families, Olena and Volodymyr were separated, with limited communication.
The presidential couple were each the only child, raised in Russian-speaking families in an industrial city in southeast Ukraine. They learned Ukrainian later in life. They met in high school and started dating while attending university; Olena graduated with a degree in architecture while Volodymyr studied law, but they both quickly got involved in satirical comedy. Volodymyr became a lead actor for a popular media production company, while Olena worked as one of its writers, the only woman in a man’s world.
They enjoyed active careers in the entertainment industry, and in 2015 Volodymyr became very popular playing a high school teacher in a television series titled “Servant of the People.” In the series, the teacher criticized government officials and business leaders for being corrupt and then was elected president of the country. This storyline became a reality in 2019, when Zelenskyy decided to run for the presidency, a decision Olena did not like because of her desire to protect their family life. After a landslide win, which they assumed would be for only one term, the Zelenskyy family’s tradition of watching “Forrest Gump” together, over and over, came to an end.
After being kept in secret locations with their children for months after the invasion, Olena became a supportive partner of her husband. She began to appear in public to talk about the human pain and hardship that the war had brought into their country’s life. In June 2022, Olena met with grieving parents whose children had been killed in the war; she later started a program to aid Ukrainians who were suffering from trauma. She stressed the urgency of training mental health workers and first responders to serve as counselors. While the president focused on the front lines, Olena dealt with issues on the home front – and did so sensitively and passionately.
Before the war, Olena was actively working with vulnerable children, especially kids with special physical needs, and she also worked on strengthening Ukraine’s laws about domestic abuse. Like her husband, she soon became a world leader and was the first wife of a country’s leader to speak at the famous World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. She stressed the urgent need to bring separated families back together, after being pulled apart because of the war. She also emphasized the critical importance of rebuilding families in Ukraine, arguing that Ukraine and the rest of Europe needed to get rid of traditional orphanages and find families to raise these children.
Back in 2010, the non-profit organization Ukraine Without Orphans (UWO) was founded. As its name indicates, UWO encouraged churches to work with businesses, governments and religious communities to shut down orphanages and place children with families. The movement began to spread, and the organization grew to become World Without Orphans, with programs in 38 countries. Ukraine's First Lady is supportive of this organization and others like it that protect orphans, and she does so with passion and boldness.
What a stark contrast to the Russian president and his personal life. Putin has two daughters from his first marriage – daughters he never talks about – and possibly several additional children with two mistresses. He conceals his checkered personal history while posturing as the defender of Christian values, even while he approves of using missiles, drones and artillery attacks against Ukraine – attacks that target civilians and children – and rewards his military when they massacre innocent people. (When Olena Zeleska spoke of the war crimes that were discovered in Irpin and Bucha, she said it was at that point they realized that Putin and his national security cronies intended to kill them all in a “war of extermination.”)
Two presidents, two marriages, and two sets of children raised in radically different contexts. These personal stories give us insights into the values represented by Ukrainian and Russian leaders. Women in Ukraine, like Olena, are empowered to be active in the country’s political and business life and in its armed forces, while there are very few Russian women allowed in positions of power or fighting for their country – Russia is a “boys club.” Reforms in Ukraine against domestic abuse have been made and are being implemented, while in Russia their already weak laws are being declared no longer valid.
As they were forced to do in 2004 and 2013, Ukraine is once again struggling to defend its freedom and its emerging democracy, and its citizens are sacrificing their lives to protect their sovereignty from Russian interference. Ukraine offers a model of society that is multilingual, multicultural, and proud of its ethnic and regional diversity. Russia is a declining colonial empire attempting to take over Ukraine, abolish its cultural legacy, and murder patriotic Ukrainians, while kidnapping their children.
The contrast could not be greater.