Zelensky: “Since the war, I’m no longer a good father”

“You journalists became my family during the war.” It is a bitter confession that Zelensky delivers to SVT NyheterSwedish state television interviewed the Ukrainian president in Kiev.

Since his homeland was invaded by the Russians, his family balance has been thrown into turmoil. “I’m sorry that I don’t have time for my children and that I can’t follow them. At the moment they are only raised by my wife and the war.’ Since the beginning of the conflict, more than a year ago, Zelensky has been confronted daily in the media around the world. “We are fighting so that the countries of Europe and those of NATO, in the future, will never have to fear that Russia will annex a free nation,” says the president.

According to polls in Ukraine, Zelensky is the most popular president in the country’s history, but his success has cost him dearly. He himself admits that “it is not possible” to be able to combine the duties of the father of a family and those of the head of statein wartime.

Together with his wife Olena Zelenska, he has a ten-year-old son and an 18-year-old daughter. «I’m not the best of fathers. I have not enough time for my family. It’s a shame and it’s sad.”

On Instagram, in January, Olena posted a photo of her with her husband, in a romantic pose, their heads resting on his shoulder. “She She often asks me how much you’ve changed in the last year. I always say, “He hasn’t changed. He’s the same. He’s the same guy I met when we met 17 years.” But, in reality, something has changed: you smile a lot less these days. I wish you more reasons to smile again. And you know what it takes. We all know that.”