Olena Zelenska, 44, said life in Ukraine was normal until the end of the war because people could not believe that President Putin would actually start a full-scale war. “It was a normal working day and night: the kids coming home from school, the usual housework, preparing for the next school day,” he said. Fashion magazine. “We were tense. There had been a lot of talk, everywhere, about a possible invasion. “But until the last minute it was impossible to believe that this would happen.” Zelenska said she woke up in the morning