Every Ukrainian mom today is part of the great wall holding off Russian aggression – Ukraine’s First Lady
Pravda Ukraine
Olena Zelenska, the First Lady of Ukraine, has told foreigners about the different experiences of Ukrainian motherhood in a full-scale war. She says that currently, every Ukrainian mother is part of a great wall that is holding back Russian aggression against the world.
Source: Olena Zelenska on an op-ed for The Washington Post
The First Lady believes that Ukrainian women are now fighting for the survival of the democratic world order. They are able to take on the roles of carers, doctors, soldiers and nurses.
Zelenska told the story of 6-year-old Renat and 10-year-old Varvara from Mariupol. The children were simply taken from their captured mother and deported to an orphanage in Russia.
Their grandmother was begging for her grandchildren and trying to get them back on her own. She even crossed the Ukraine-Russia border to find the children. Although Renat and Varvara’s mum was returned to Ukraine as part of a prisoner exchange, the grandmother had to wait 9 months to see her grandchildren again.
Meanwhile, more than 19,000 Ukrainian children are still in Russian captivity. Their families are having a hard time because of the uncertainty.
The First Lady said that some mothers, such as Natalia Makovetska, have managed to transform pain into hope. After her son was killed in action, she joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And she is not the only one – there are currently more than 60,000 female soldiers that joined the Ukrainian army voluntarily.
Other mothers manage to take care of children who have lost their parents and homes. For example, Tatiana Yurychko is raising ten children. She believes that every child deserves to have a family.
However, not all stories of Ukrainian mothers are happy. Zelenska reminds us that two months ago, after the Russian missile attack on Odesa, rescue workers found Anna Haidarzha and Tatiana Kravets dead. The women were killed while shielding 7-month-old Liza and 4-year-old Tymofii with their bodies. Their older children were orphaned.
One of the most difficult challenges for mothers in Ukraine today is the feeling of helplessness, the inability to protect their children either physically or emotionally, says Olena Zelenska.
“Now in Ukraine, every mother must steel themselves against the question, ‘Mom, are we going to die today?'” she said.
The First Lady of Ukraine also shared her own “recipe” for being a mother at war: to be sincere, to remain an example of love and care.
“But my only recipe for being a mom during the war is to be sincere and an example of love and care. It is to teach my children the need to care for others because that is why we are all holding on to through the war. It is about hoping that the war will remain just an episode in the lives of our children. That they will enjoy normal lives after it to erase that trauma,” Olena Zelenska said.
Earlier, we wrote about Nataliia Tarabalka, the mother of deceased military pilot and Hero of Ukraine Stepan Tarabalka, who has joined the ranks of military chaplains of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
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