During a visit to the United States of America, the wife of the President of Ukraine Olena Zelenska addressed the Congress, the US legislative body. She became the first wife of a state leader in history who had the opportunity to deliver a speech in the walls of this institution.
At the beginning of the speech, Olena Zelenska emphasized that she would not speak according to protocol, but primarily as a woman and mother. She addressed the congressmen not just as politicians and party representatives, but as mothers and fathers, grandfathers and grandmothers, daughters and sons.
„No matter what positions have we achieved in life, first of all, we always remain a part of our family,“ the First Lady of Ukraine noted.
The President’s wife spoke about the tragedies experienced by Ukrainian families due to the Russian invasion.
She showed videos and photos of four-year-old Liza, who died in Vinnytsia as a result of Russian shelling, as well as children killed in the Mykolaiv region and the Odesa region, dead employees and visitors of the shopping center in Kremenchuk, which was burned by a Russian missile on June 27.
“Since the beginning of the war, Russia has launched more than 3,000 different cruise missiles over Ukraine, but to destroy someone’s family, you don’t even need a missile, a small fragment is enough. So I appeal to you on behalf of all the dead. On behalf of people who have lost arms and legs. And on behalf of people who are still alive and well. On behalf of those who are fighting and those who are waiting in the rear for the return of their relatives from the front. I’m asking for something now that I never wanted to ask for. I am asking you for weapons! Weapons not for waging war on someone else’s land, but to protect our home and the right to wake up in it alive. I am asking you for anti-aircraft defense – so that rockets do not kill children in their strollers. So that they do not destroy children’s rooms and entire families,” the First Lady emphasized.
The First Lady emphasized that the air defense systems would allow children to return to school in the autumn, as currently the safe educational process in the upcoming year remains in question.
She also thanked the United States for its strong support and expressed hope that the audience heard her address today.