Olena Zelenskawife of the President of Ukraine, Volodímir Zelensky He denounced that Russian soldiers’ wives “encourage” them to rape Ukrainian women, and accused Russian forces of using rape as a weapon of war in his country. That’s why he called for a “global response” at the international conference to address sexual violence in conflict held this week in London.
The first lady of Ukraine spoke clearly about the violations that are taking place “systematically and openly” against the women of her country by the Russian invaders, since the beginning of the military offensive initiated by Putin last February.
In addition to the evidence provided by the assaulted women, the intelligence services of the invaded country have been able to verify the veracity of the attitude in the distance of the Russian women: “We see that the Russian military is very open about it. They talk about it on the phone with their relatives, from telephone conversations that we have managed to capture,” said Zelensky’s wife.
“In fact, Russian military wives encourage this, they say, ‘Go ahead and rape those Ukrainian women, just don’t share this with me, just don’t tell me,'” Olena said during her speech at the conference.
Read also– The first lady of Ukraine and her children, hiding in a bunker: “Today there will be no panic or tears”
Zelenska was thus able to appeal to the international community and explain the seriousness of wartime violations: “This is another instrument that they (Russian forces) are using as a weapon. This is another weapon in their arsenal in this war and conflict”.
In addition to assuring that “they are using it systematically and openly,” the Ukrainian leader’s wife warned the world: “It is extremely important to recognize this as a war crime and hold all perpetrators accountable.”
As denounced from London, the 44-year-old Ukrainian made a plea to raise international awareness about the problem of this type of crime in times of conflict: “Sexual violence is the cruelest, most animalistic way of demonstrating dominance over someone. And for Victims of this type of violence are hard to testify in times of war because no one feels safe,” he said.
A married couple united to defend their country
Olena Zelenska, is an architect and screenwriter, and is married to the Ukrainian president, Zelenski, who before being a politician was an actor and comedian in his country and even starred in a series that could be seen on Netflix. The couple has two children, Aleksandra, 17, and Kiril, 9. Despite the fact that they have been Russian military targets since the beginning of the conflict, they have remained together in Ukraine, fighting for their country.
Olena has played an important humanitarian and diplomatic role since the conflict broke out: “For women and children, my wife being here is an example. I think she plays a very powerful role for Ukraine, for our families and for our women She is a patriot and deeply loves Ukraine,” her husband said about her.
Read also– Harsh criticism of the Zelenskys after posing for Vogue in the middle of the war: “Embarrassing”
The couple has been highly criticized when, in their eagerness to gather support and make their fight against the Russian invasion visible, they granted an exclusive pose for the magazine Vogue in front of the famous camera Annie Leibovitz which was made public last July.
The report showed a staging that received thousands of criticisms on social networks for being frivolous and inappropriate, and was accused of pure “posturing”. In the photographs, the Ukrainian president and his wife were seen together and separately in settings such as his residential palace, in the rubble of the kyiv airport or a retaining wall, among others.