Frankfurt/Main (dpa/lhe) – Olena Selenska, the wife of the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj, emphasized at the Frankfurt Book Fair on Saturday that there were no “overtones” in the war in her homeland. “We are fighting for our lives,” she said in the evening at an event organized by the magazine “Brigitte”. “You have to tell the truth about what happens to us every day.” She also sees her task in appearances as First Lady.
There were air raids again in Kyiv on Saturday and her thoughts are with her children, she said. “Our planning horizon is maybe a day or two – we don’t know what tomorrow or the day after tomorrow is.” At the same time, a certain routine sets in: “The heart no longer races when the sirens wail. We’re going to the air-raid shelter.”
The Ukrainian first lady described the search for normality despite the effects of the war – for example, her daughter had started studying. “We are constantly in different places, the children have rarely seen their father, but they call every day.”
Selenska spoke out in favor of better inclusion of people with disabilities when launching a book on accessibility. With every month of war, this becomes more important, she said, referring to people who are injured in fighting and attacks. “We have to start thinking about reconstruction now,” she demanded. And she hopes schools will be rebuilt with ramps for wheelchairs.
