Ukraine’s first lady, decrying deaths of children amid Russia’s invasion, pleads for international support

“When Russia says that it is ‘not waging war against civilians,’ I call out the names of these murdered children first,” Zelenska wrote in an impassioned open letter delivered to the global news media by her spokesperson on Tuesday.

She penned the letter, she said, in response to an overwhelming number of press inquiries and added that it should serve as her “testimony from Ukraine.” At two pages and nearly 1,000 words, it is a wrenching and direct statement from someone the Ukrainian president has described as Russia’s “target No. 2″ — along with the couple’s two young children — after only Zelensky himself.

For security reasons, the location of Zelenska and the couple’s children has not been publicly disclosed. Like Zelensky, she has been a prominent voice on social media, buoying the morale of Ukrainians with encouraging posts on Instagram and a Telegram channel that answers questions about how to live in a war zone. Zelensky has said his family remains in Ukraine.

Who is Olena Zelenska, Ukraine’s first lady and Volodymyr Zelensky’s wife?

In the letter, Zelenska describes the impact of the combat on the most vulnerable, who have been trapped in besieged cities.

“Our women and children now live in bomb shelters and basements,” she wrote. “The first newborn of the war saw the concrete ceiling of the basement, their first breath was the acrid air of the underground, and they were greeted by a community trapped and terrorized. At this point, there are several dozen children who have never known peace in their lives.”

The invasion has driven more than 2 million people out of the country, the United Nations said Tuesday, and the crisis has stunned humanitarian workers with its scale and speed. Half of those who have fled are children, according to UNICEF. Zelenska recounted the pain and hope embedded in the scenes of families forced to separate — those fleeing the country bidding farewell to those returning to fight.

“Our roads are flooded with refugees,” she wrote. “Look into the eyes of these tired women and children who carry with them the pain and heartache of leaving loved ones and life as they knew it behind. The men bringing them to the borders shedding tears to break apart their families, but bravely returning to fight for our freedom. After all, despite all this horror, Ukrainians do not give up.”

Zelenska also repeated calls for a no-fly zone over Ukraine and appealed directly to journalists, who have been targeted by the Kremlin’s strict new media laws.

“Keep showing what is happening here,” she wrote, “and keep showing the truth.”