Volodymyr Zelenskyy was first a comedian, then a president, and now, due to recent events, one of the most recognizable figures in the world. He has been the figurehead for Ukraine since Russia crossed the border and started the war in 2022.
Things have grown complicated of late, but while Zelenskyy remains in the thick of a war, with an entire country on his shoulders, he has a lot of support — not only from his staff but also from his wife, Olena Zelenska.
The First Lady of Ukraine has not been seen as much as her husband, but despite the war, she has sought to try and give her countrymen and women some semblance of normality. Recently, Olena made a statement about the many children who were abducted from Ukraine and taken to Russia. Sadly, the update is far from positive.
Olena Zelenska and Volodymyr Zelenskyy know each other inside out. Together, they have faced extraordinary times, and the story of how they came to the Ukrainian presidency. Yet when her husband announced that he was running for president, Olena, it’s said, was far from happy.Olena Zelenska—whose maiden name is Kiyashko—was born on February 5, 1978, in Kryvyi Rih, a city in central Ukraine, about 260 miles south of Kyiv. Zelenska and Zelenskyy grew up in the same city and were born just a week apart. However, it wasn’t until both were students at Kryvyi Rih National University that they met for the first time.
“I don’t remember the moment when Vladimir and I first met eyes. Everyone knew him at school. His company was always bright. If it was loud somewhere, then Zelenskyy was there,” Olena recalled.
Olena and Volodymyr met at university and soon after started dating. Volodymyr was a law student but also aspired to be a comedian. When they first met, it wasn’t quite love at first sight, at least not from Volodymyr’s point of view.Speaking with Lifestyle, the president said he took pride in finding it easy to approach girls. However, things were quite the opposite with Olena. She didn’t let him in at first, which led to him continuing to try and impress her.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy & Olena Zelenska
The Ukrainian president explained that, at the time, she was dating someone else, and she wasn’t really interested in a relationship with him. However, as time passed, he fell deeply in love with her. Their shared interests, Olena says, also laid the ground for their relationship.
“He immediately made attempts to look after me, and I didn’t really want that at that time,” she said. “But our conversations convinced me of the opposite. We looked in the same direction, we liked the same music, we could talk about anything. In a relationship, that is very important.”
After eight years of dating, the couple tied the knot on September 6, 2003. A year later, they welcomed their daughter Aleksandra. In 2013, Olena gave birth to the couple’s second child, Kiril.
When Olena Zelenska and Volodymyr Zelenskyy got married, the idea of them becoming the president and first lady of Ukraine wasn’t something they’d considered. They had completely different interests at first, but once they got to know each other, they found they worked well together.
As Olena was a writer – and Volodymyr an up-and-coming comedian — she started writing material for her husband. Then, in the 2010s, Zelenskyy’s career skyrocketed thanks to the Ukrainian comedy series Servant of the People. Olena was a writer on the show, which ran between 2015 and 2019.
Olena Zelenska’s vision for Ukraine
The comedy show starred Zelenskyy as the friendly high school teacher Vasiliy Petrovich Goloborodko. In the show, he became the president after being increasingly tired of what he said were corrupt politicians.
Ironically enough, the show ended in 2019 because its star, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, became the actual president of Ukraine. Suffice to say that his was a rather unconventional road to becoming president.
Zelenskyy made his plan for Ukraine clear, and Olena Zelenska also had issues she wanted to address. It took about half a year before she and her team decided which task was the priority. Finally, they settled on children’s health and reforms in school nutrition.
Zelenska wanted Ukrainian schoolchildren to be educated about eating healthy, and for school food to become better and more nutritious. The Ukrainian Ministry of Health was to present a new nutrition program in schools. When she went overseas with her husband, she visited several medical centers working with the same issues.
“In Japan, for example, there is a nutritionist in every school that pays special attention to the nutrition of children with allergies, and the kitchens in schools are completely separated and sterile, like an operations room. I sourced numerous ideas and became convinced that making positive changes is real, you just have to sincerely crave something and work hard,” Olena explained.
“It’s not a normal relationship”
Today, she is known worldwide for a whole different reason. When the war began in 2022, Olena and her children, Aleksandra and Kiril, were believed to have remained at an undisclosed location in Ukraine. Like her husband, the first lady decided to stand her ground and stay strong.
“I will not have panic and tears,” Olena wrote on Instagram at the time. “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.”
Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Olena could never have imagined where Ukraine would be as a country today. When the war broke out in February 2022, the couple was put to the ultimate test, and in the summer, Olena shared that they had decided to put their relationship on pause.
Speaking with CNN, Olena explained that their relationship dramatically changed because of the war. They were forbidden from seeing each other for long periods because of safety issues.
“But at least I can physically feel him next to me,” Zelenska said. “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 need to accumulate our strength, we need to save our energy,” she added.
Volodymyr and Olena Zelenska said goodbye to each other “the very first day” of the war
Speaking with Good Morning America, Olena spoke further about being separated from her husband.
“We say goodbye to each other the very first day. And over the next two months, we only had a chance to speak via the phone. I’m really proud of the fact that the world has uncovered the true identity of my husband,” she explained.
Being separated is always challenging for a couple, and in Zelenskyy and Olena’s case, it wasn’t a matter of months. The war is still ongoing, but despite the fact that they have been apart for a long time, their marriage is stronger than ever, according to the first lady. Speaking to Daily Mail, Olena said that they never let each other down.
“We’re never tired of each other, we never bore each other. And it makes the family stronger, too. It’s not a normal life for any person to live in a country at war. It’s a constant psychological burden and pressure. I hope when this pressure is relieved, with our victory, we will be able to stay sane and we’ll be fine. However, now I think that we are as close as ever emotionally,” Zelenska said.
She added: “And we understand each other very well. In fact, it is very important that you can respect your nearest and dearest. I am sure love is not enough. And I am happy that I can respect my husband because it would have been very hard to stay with him, even given huge love, if I hadn’t believed in his honesty:”
Olena Zelenska says only 1,227 abducted children has been returned from Russia
Although the war is raging, Olena does not let that stop her from performing her duties as first lady. She has, for example, been a big supporter of trying to get more women to start businesses in Ukraine, but even so, it’s impossible to turn away from the reality of the situation.
When appearing on the Italian political and news talk show Quarta Repubblica, Olena spoke about the importance of the world remembering who started the war and how crucial it is to help support Ukraine.
“Instead of stopping the aggressor and ensuring that he can never harm anyone again, discussions begin about some so-called mutually beneficial dialogue with him. This is a distortion of reality, a blurring of morality. And it is an extremely dangerous situation for everyone,” she said.
“We are not fighting for kilometers. We are fighting for our people in the occupied territories. These kilometers are their homes, their jobs, their schools, their familiar streets. These people have the right to live in their country without fear. We cannot leave them in danger.”
Many civilians have been killed since Russia entered Ukraine. According to the Ukrainian government, more than 19,000 children have been abducted and taken to Russia. Sadly, Olena Zelenska recently shared that only 1,227 children have been returned – and that Russia is obstructing the process of returning the children via several methods.
“Unfortunately, this is not a mechanism that works consistently. That is why the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children was created – to ensure that such a mechanism exists and operates. Today, 41 countries are already part of this coalition,” she concluded.