ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Skip to main content

War has shown Zelenskyy's true qualities to all, wife says

Share
WARSAW, Poland -

Ukraine's first lady, Olena Zelenska, says the war with Russia has not changed her husband but only revealed to the world his determination to prevail and the fact that he is a man you can rely on.

Zelenska, in an interview published Friday in the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita, also said she has not seen her husband, 44-year-old Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy, since Russia invaded Ukraine.

When Zelenska woke up on Feb. 24, the day the war began, her husband was already awake and dressed. He told her simply: "It's started," and left for the office in Kyiv, she recalled.

"Since Feb. 24, I have been seeing my husband just like you -- on TV and on the video recordings of his speeches," she said.

Zelenska said the couple's two children were with her but she did not disclose their location.

She accused Russia of trying to carry out a genocide against the Ukrainian people and expressed her sympathy with the more than 11 million Ukrainians who have been forced to flee their homes.

Poland has accepted the largest number of them, with 3 million crossing into Poland since the war began and 1.6 million Ukrainians registering for national identification numbers, indicating they plan to remain for some time.

"I wish I could hug each of them. It is easy to imagine the difficult path they went through, escaping from basements or bunkers in Mariupol, from shelling in Kharkiv, from the occupied Kyiv region, and even from Lviv or Odesa, which were also under fire from Russian missiles," she said.

She also thanked Poles for their efforts to help Ukrainians, a message her husband also delivered to the Polish media on Friday.

The newspaper, making clear that it interviewed Zelenska remotely, asked her if the war had changed her husband, the former comedic actor who has rallied and united Ukraine as a wartime leader, winning respect worldwide.

"The war has not changed him," she replied. "He has always been a man you can rely on. A man who will never fail. Who will hold out until the end. It's just that now the whole world has seen what may not have been clear to everyone before."

She was also asked if she had a message for the mothers, wives and sisters of Russian soldiers. Zelenska said she did not, because "nothing gets through to them."

"During those two months, as their sons are being killed in Ukraine as criminals and occupiers, they had time to define their position. Since there is no such declaration -- if the coffins do not convince them that something is wrong here -- then I have nothing to say to them," she said.

CTVNews.ca ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Police have arrested an 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole a Porsche and then ran over its owner in an incident that was captured on video.

Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.

Advocates have identified the woman who died this week after being shot by police in Surrey, B.C., as a South American refugee who was raising a young daughter.

Three men were injured after trying to subdue a man armed with a knife during afternoon prayers at a Montreal-area mosque Friday afternoon.

A 15-year-old boy who was the subject of an emergency alert in New Brunswick has been arrested.

The search for a missing six-year-old boy in Shamattawa is continuing Friday as RCMP hope recent tips can help lead to a happy conclusion.

Provincial police investigating the death of a cat that was allegedly set on fire in Orillia earlier this week released surveillance video of a person of interest in the case.

Local Spotlight

Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.

An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.

They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.