The Incredible Ukrainian 1st Lady
The 44-year old wife of the Ukrainian leader is formidable in every sense.
Not much is written about her, and she probably prefers it that way. She works tirelessly in the background and my Ukrainian friends have all voiced so much admiration for this woman-rock.
She did not sign up for this life of public duty. Her husband was an entertainer and comedian when they married.
Women are the bastions of “life”. Life enters this world through them, and that conduit must have an impact on their thinking. We know what Olena thinks. She despises this war. War must be so against a woman's natural instincts as to be abhorrent.
There can be no more futile way to see lives lost, than in a war over principle or a patch of earth. The only piece of earth anybody, no matter how wealthy or powerful, ever ended up with is a 6 x 4 grave … so what are we really fighting for?
Olena has rallied the women of Ukraine. Her social media posts are inspirational and exactly what is needed. Her “admiration” for the women on the front line and her extoling of those who “heal, save and feed” has a depth of passionate resistance that you can only admire.
She could easily have fled Ukraine and her decision would be totally justified. She has children. But she has chosen to stay by her husband’s side. The strength of courageous woman across the world constantly astounds me, and she encapsulates the best of that strength. Her message speaks to women across Ukraine. This is her home, and she is staying with her husband.
She uses her platform to speak directly to women, about humanitarian issues, she leaves the rest (the senselessness of war) to her more than adequate husband. Clever.
I love her message to Ukrainian women —
“take the children to shelters every day without panic and entertain them with games and cartoons to protect children’s minds from the war.
And protect those who give birth in shelters.”
It is no secret that the Russian army has marked HER down as the number one target to be killed, not her husband. And her family (2-children) as number 2. I cannot help think that this is a key reason why Ukraine is fighting so stoically.
And it shows the mind of the Russian leadership. This is an evil beyond description. The Russian people may not know the truth, but the puppets around Putin do know. They have access to the truth. And they are fully complicit.
I have read a great deal on the war in Ukraine and the subjects that flow from that analysis. But ultimately this is about intentionality. America stands accused in some reporting of doing the same thing in the Middle East — I am not American, but in my heart of hearts I believe civilian deaths by America forces was not intentional.
Bin Laden’s family were not targets to be exterminated. He was. And therein lies the huge difference for me between Putin and his all-knowing cronies. Intentionality. War is a messy business, but when you INTENTIONALLY target the family of a leader, the children, that says all you need to know.
As for the Russian people, having been raised in Apartheid South Africa, with a total control by the Government on Public Broadcasting — I know how easy it is to be fed, and to believe, the lies and propaganda of a bad government.
Unless you have lived in a propaganda black out, you cannot understand how total it is. Admittedly we did not have social media in those days, but the belief that our Government was on a crusade for good, for God’s work, was total.
Clearly from his speeches to the various parliaments of the world, Volodymyr is a student of history. He uses historical moments to ram his points home, and none more so than the idea of a modern Winston Churchill walking the bombed streets of Ukraine with a cigar, and his family with him.
It sends a powerful message. His family is the face of courage in Ukraine. And I am sure that difficult conversation about the children being targeted has been had.
I took my children out of South Africa when my 2-year old son’s kindergarten was shot up in broad daylight with AK-47’s.
The shooters got away with a little over 100 ZAR (roughly 5-dollars in today’s money) and a fake pearl necklace belonging to a teacher. I cannot describe the feeling of entering that classroom to collect my son and seeing the bullet holes in the walls and ceiling.
Or trying to answer my 2-year old’s question — “who were those men daddy, why did they make the teacher cry.” We packed up and left for London within 2-months of that incident. I could choose that life in South Africa for myself, but I did not feel I had the right to choose that option for my children.
But I wasn’t the President of South Africa. They are of Ukraine.
They are trapped as much by destiny and circumstance as by love for freedom, for home and for the rule of law and democracy.
She is an architect and screenwriter for Studio Kvartal 95. She married in 2003 and had a daughter, in 2004 and a son in 2013. She was on the cover of Vogue in 2019 and said she prefers the “backstage” life — she champions gender equality (That should go down a treat with Putin), and childhood nutrition.
Last Tuesday she said on social media, that she could see sunshine through the smoke of war and that :-
“there will be Spring, there will be victory, there will be Ukraine”
And no matter who ends up “owning” the ‘dirt’ they fight on, she is right. Ukraine will always be. Putin has made it so. Ukraine is ours now — a spiritual connection has been forged by an unjust war, and a love of its people.
Ukraine is not land or buildings, it is spirit, and strength and decency. It is life and people.
While we have been fighting the more obvious war on terror, perhaps we have let slip the values and principles of real terror —
The decay of a rules based society.
It is never too late to change. And may the strength and influence of women the world over continue to grow, if for no other reason than to bring balance to an otherwise imbalanced male-gender-led set of principles.
This is not about the lowering of male input, or values, but the equalisation of gender influence to create a better harmony.
May Olena Zelenska be protected in this moment. We need strong women like her to be role models to our youth. Both boys and girls. This is what real strength looks like.
Putin is the sum of everything that is weak and evil about men and power.
