Olena Zelenska said she realized the war had started when she heard a “clock” and “did not immediately realize it was an explosion”. It was between four and five in the morning and her husband was wearing a suit – the last time he wore such a formal attire before changing into military uniforms. “It started,” was all he said, Ms. Zelenskyy told Vogue magazine. He asked her to gather “the necessary things and documents” and left the house. Picture: The couple now only talks on the phone. Photo file via AP Ukraine says Russians stole Chernobyl deadly material – follow live updates That the invasion would mobilize Ukrainians and “combine staff and the public” seems to have been lost by the Russian president, he said. “He wanted to divide us, to break us up, to provoke an internal confrontation, but it is impossible to do that with Ukrainians.” He continued: “When one of us is tortured, raped or killed, we feel that we are all being tortured, raped or killed. “And this is probably the fatal mistake of the tyrant who attacked us. We are all Ukrainians first and then everything else.” Image: Volodymyr Zelenskyy abandons his combat suit when the invasion begins Russia has violated its commitment to target only military bases on the first day of its invasion, Ms. Zelensky said. “On February 24, their attacks killed a political gas sender named Svetlana in Tsugev, who was just doing her job. That was the first day.” On the third day of the war, a baby was born in a bomb shelter. “After that, thousands of women were forced to give birth in bomb shelters because we saw what could happen in maternity hospitals like the one in Mariupol, which was bombed by the Russians,” she said. There are “tens of thousands of women with children” in the “ruins of Mariupol”, added Ms. Zelenski, describing the port city as “our terrible pain”. And the war has raised “the deepest patriotic feelings in our children,” he said. “Not only my children, but all the children of Ukraine. They will grow up as patriots and defenders of their homeland.” Follow the Daily Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker She and her son and daughter talk to Zelensky “only by phone”. “It was necessary to take care of the children, their emotional states. So I tried to be confident, smiling, energetic,” said Ms Zelenskyy. “We do not need to explain anything to the children. They see everything, just like any child in Ukraine. “Sure, this is not something that children should see, but children are very honest and sincere. You can not hide anything from them.” Read more: Ukrainian police go from house to house in a van that smells of death The best strategy with children is the truth, he said. “We have discussed everything with my daughter and son. I tried to answer their questions. “We talk a lot, because to say what hurts, not to remain silent inside you – this is a proven psychological strategy. It works.” Image: Boris Johnson traveled to Kyiv to meet with Volodymyr Zelenskyy over the weekend Ms Zelenskyy told the story of a doctor, Iryna Yazova, who remained in Bucha, where civilians were killed on the streets. “He rescued neighbors and strangers seeking refuge and healing from the wounds of Russian gunfire,” he said. “He stunned them and tied them up. He even helped give birth to a baby without light, water and gas, in a house under fire.” Asked what Ukraine needs, she reiterated her husband’s request for a no-fly zone. “Russia knows that the West will not cover the sky, and this encourages it to commit atrocities,” Zelensky said.
