Who is Ukraine’s first lady Olena Zelenska?

Wife of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy writes open letter condemning Russia's invasion of her country

Olena Zelenska, first lady of Ukraine, met her husband while they were studying at university. AFP

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Ukraine’s first lady Olena Zelenska on Tuesday accused Russia of the "mass murder" of civilians, including children, in an open letter to the global media on the Russian invasion.

For the first time since the invasion began, Ms Zelenska wrote to the international community about the effect of the war on the country’s most vulnerable.

What has happened to Ukraine is “impossible to believe”, she wrote in the message which was released on the Telegram app.

She said Russia’s military invasion represented “the mass murder of Ukrainian civilians” despite “assurances from Kremlin-backed propaganda outlets, who call this a ‘special operation’”.

Writing about Russia's President Vladimir Putin, she said he had underestimated Ukrainians, who stand in "unparalleled unity".

Here's what you need to know about Olena Zelenska.

University friends

Ms Zelenska was born Olena Kiyashko in central Ukraine in 1978 and met her now-husband Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Kryvyi Rih National University. She studied architecture and he studied law but a career in comedy was awaiting both.

Ms Zelenska wrote scripts for Mr Zelenskyy's comedy group, Kvartal 95, before going on to write for his hit TV show Servant of the People, in which he played the president of Ukraine. The pair married in 2003 and went on to have two children together, Olexandra, now aged 17 and Kyrylo, 9.

She has said she initially opposed her husband's decision to run for president in 2019, due to the upheaval it would cause to their lives.

First lady Olena Zelenska

Britain's Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge meet Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his wife Olena Zelenska at Buckingham Palace. Reuters

Despite her reticence, Ms Zelenska has taken to her role as first lady. She has spearheaded campaigns for better school meals, against domestic violence and worked to make Ukrainian a language on audio guides in museums around the world.

She has accompanied Mr Zelenskyy on international trips, meeting Prince William and his wife Catherine in Britain in 2020.

The Ukrainian presidency did not immediately respond to a question as to whether Ms Zelenska is currently in Kyiv.

Speaking up in wartime

Deploring the deaths of children in the war in her post on Tuesday, Ms Zelenskyy named some of those killed by Russian strikes and forces and said there were now several dozen children "who have never known peace in their lives".

“Our women and children now live in bomb shelters and basements,” she said.

“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 terrorised.”

She said Ukraine’s roads were “flooded with refugees”.

“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,” she said.

“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."

Ms Zelenska justified her testimony by saying that requests from media outlets around the world to talk about the invasion had overwhelmed her.

"Perhaps the most terrifying and devastating of this invasion are the child casualties. Eight-year-old Alice died on the streets of Okhtyrka while her grandfather tried to protect her. Or Polina from Kyiv, who died in the shelling with her parents,” she said.

A Ukrainian serviceman walks past the vertical tail fin of a Russian Su-34 bomber lying in a damaged building in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP Photo

An apartment building damaged after shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP Photo

A woman puts her head in her hands as she sits on a cot in a shelter, set up for displaced persons fleeing Ukraine, inside a school gymnasium in Przemysl, Poland. AP Photo

Belarussian and suspected Russian helicopters on the flight line at Machulishchy Air Base outside Minsk, Belarus. AP Photo

Children look on as people fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine shelter in a school, in Drohobych, Ukraine. Reuters

Families eat in the shelter. Reuters

A woman looks out from a building damaged by Russian shelling in Mykolaiv, 100 kilometres away from Odesa, western Ukraine. AFP

A wounded Ukrainian man waits in the corridor of the central hospital of Mykolaiv. AFP

An elderly woman is carried in a shopping cart after being rescued from Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine. AP

A woman reacts as a train carrying children from Kyiv's Central Children's Hospital leaves the Ukrainian capital on its way to Lviv. Reuters

A girl sits in an improvised bomb shelter in Mariupol, Ukraine. AP

An elderly woman is coated in snow as she sits in a wheelchair after being rescued from Irpin. AP

Belarusian volunteers take part in military exercises at the Belarusian Company base in Kyiv. AP

Lessa, left, director of a nursery school turned into a refugee shelter, cries as she hugs Olega, who arrived from Kyiv with her baby, near Lviv. EPA

Ukrainians pass a damaged bridge as they flee from Irpin. AP

A man carries an elderly woman as people continue to leave Irpin. AP

A soldier stands on a barricade made of sandbags in central Odesa, Ukraine. Reuters

A charred Russian tank and captured tanks in the Sumy region. Reuters

People rest at a temporary shelter for Ukrainian refugees in Przemysl, Poland. AFP

Ukraine's ambassador to the Netherlands, Maksym Kononenko, third right, and his wife Tetiana Doroshenko, fourth left, attend a meeting of members of the Ukrainian community with Dutch King Willem-Alexander, third left, and Queen Maxima, second left, to discuss the situation in Ukraine, in The Hague. EPA

A Ukrainian soldier looks at the destruction after shelling in Ukraine's second-largest city of Kharkiv. AFP

A refugee holds her dog as they wait for trains to Poland in Lviv, Ukraine. Reuters

A woman ties ribbons in Ukrainian national flag colours in a girl's hair as people wait at a refugee assistance centre in Prague, Czech Republic. EPA

A Ukrainian soldier carries an elderly woman crossing the Irpin river on the outskirts of Kyiv. AP

Lena, who had never left Ukraine before fleeing into Moldova, feeds Dasha, 3, soon after crossing the border. Erin Clare Brown for The National

Refugees without immediate plans to move further inland can stay the night in tents set up on Moldova's side of the border. Erin Clare Brown for The National

Tatiana and her son wait for a van that will carry them from the Moldovan border to Chisinau. Erin Clare Brown for The National

Each night, the Palanca refugee camp in Moldova feeds up to 300 people who arrive with no onward plans. Erin Clare Brown for The National

People pass a damaged bridge while fleeing the town of Irpin, close to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. AP

A Ukrainian soldier stands guard next to a church in Irpin. EPA

A firefighter holds the baby of a Ukrainian refugee at the border in Romania. AP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks in Kyiv. Reuters

A Ukrainian soldier at a checkpoint in Kyiv. AP

Ukrainian activist Ihor Mazur, left, a veteran of the war in the country's east, looks at a night-vision device in Kyiv. AP

Ambassadors attend a UN Security Council meeting on threats to international security after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in New York. Reuters

Ukraine's UN ambassador Sergey Kyslytsya holds a paper with an image of Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as he addresses the Security Council in New York. Reuters

A road sign put up in support of Mr Zelenskyy outside Russia's embassy in Washington. AFP

Ukrainian refugees at the train station in Lviv, western Ukraine. EPA

Lethal and non-lethal Ukrainian aid is loaded on to a plane bound for Poland by Canadian soldiers in Trenton, Ontario. Reuters

Volunteers carry medical aid and necessities at a train station in Lviv. EPA

Everton players wear T-shirts in support of Ukraine as they warm up for an English Premier League football match against Tottenham Hotspur. AP

A residential building damaged by Russian shelling in Chernihiv, Ukraine. Reuters

A man walks past a checkpoint in heavy snow in Lviv. Getty

A man fleeing fighting in Irpin waits to cross a river after Russian forces entered the city. Getty

Soldiers assist Irpin residents underneath a damaged bridge as they flee. Getty

Ukrainian civilians who volunteered to join the Territorial Defence Forces take part in a training exercise in Odesa after Russia's invasion. Reuters

Men carry a body to a lorry as people flee from the frontline town of Irpin. EPA

A Ukrainian police officer runs with a child as the sound of shelling echoes nearby in Irpin. AP

Parents and children struggle to board a train in Lviv. AP

"14-year-old Arseniy was hit in the head by wreckage, and could not be saved because an ambulance could not get to him on time because of intense fires."

The first lady called for a no-fly zone over Ukraine and appealed directly to journalists.

Ms Zelenska’s work has focused largely on diplomatic and cultural routes.

She has advocated nutritional reform across schools in Ukraine, as well as pushing for an initiative to spread the Ukrainian language across the world, all while campaigning for a society free of barriers.

Ukraine’s first lady holds an architecture degree from Kryvyi Rih National University.