What Ukraine is fighting for goes beyond borders, it is its right to exist: First lady

ISTANBUL

What Ukraine is fighting in the nearly 10-month-old war goes beyond borders or frontiers but has to do with the nation’s very right to exist, according to Ukraine’s first lady Olena Zelenska.

“You were the first to understand: what Ukraine is fighting for has no borders. Because this is the right to exist," Zelenska said late on Wednesday during an online meeting with her counterparts from various countries, according to a statement from the Ukrainian presidency.

During the online meeting attended by the first ladies of France, Latvia, Lithuania, Iceland, North Macedonia, Belgium, Serbia, Bermuda, and Estonia, Zelenska thanked her fellow first ladies for their show of support and help for Ukraine in the early stages of the war with Russia.

“I think all this became possible because we have common values. And the biggest of them is human life and its salvation. Freedom and its protection,” Zelenska said.

Zelenska also stressed the importance of July’s second Kyiv Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen in the capital Kyiv, which she said managed to raise $6.4 million, making it possible to purchase 84 ambulances for Ukraine’s Health Ministry.

Discussing work plans for 2023 with the other first ladies, Zelenska proposed integrating the summit into the activities of international events.

"Such meetings within other major international events will add regularity to our cooperation. We can jointly hold international events of other global organizations: the UN General Assembly, G-7, G-20, etc., and present the summit ourselves on their platforms," she said.

She added that the role of first ladies is changing, where, for a long time, they were considered “only a soft power, far from having a great influence on the world.”

"We are a force. And we decide whether it is hard or soft, depending on the circumstances. The main thing is that it is powerful," she said.

The Kyiv Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen is an international initiative launched by Zelenska, which held its first summit on Aug. 23 and aims to create an international dialogue platform to help solve humanitarian issues and strengthen the political role of first ladies.