Olena Zelenska in interview with Vogue: We have no doubt we will prevail

The article was published in Vogue’s digital version on Tuesday.

“These have been the most horrible months of my life, and the lives of every Ukrainian,” the First Lady said, speaking of the full-scale war waged by Russia against Ukraine.

Zelenska underscored that fellow Ukrainians inspired her.

“We’re looking forward to victory. We have no doubt we will prevail. And this is what keeps us going,” she stressed.

The article tells that Ukraine’s First Lady recently traveled to Washington and met with President Biden, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. There, she also addressed Congress, telling a bipartisan group of lawmakers that she was speaking as a mother and daughter, not just a first lady. Zelenska showed pictures of Ukrainian children who had been killed by Russian rockets and asked American lawmakers to provide more weapons to Ukraine.

“That’s a more heartfelt version of the message her husband has been making all along: that the war in Ukraine is about more than Ukraine—it is about who will uphold the values of the West and the postwar rules-based order. If Vladimir Putin can invade a sovereign country to fulfill his ambition to reunite the former Russian empire, where will he stop?” reads the article.

It is also underscored that Zelenska’s visit to Washington was a reminder of the power of image-making. “The female voices in this war need to be heard, need to be represented,” commented Tetyana Solovey, a London-based former editor at Vogue Ukraine.

As noted, Zelenska is the first to speak about the human experience of the war and has helped Ukraine assert its own voice.

Photo credit: ANNIE LEIBOVITZ, Vogue

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