The Second Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen was opened by the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska.
This is the full version of Ms. Zelenska’s opening speech:
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen!
First Ladies and Gentlemen,
leaders of states!
I am honored to announce the opening of the Second Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen.
The summit will be held in the ancient Sophia of Kyiv, in our capital, which is united with other capitals – Warsaw, Brussels, London and Washington.
Today, we will hear from these cities and from many other cities of the world the participants of our Summit.
The summit, which is taking place on the 150th day of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. A cruel war in which our people have stood up despite everything.
150 days. How much happened during this time…
Dozens of cities have been destroyed. Dozens more cities are under relentless shelling by Russian artillery.
150 days are Bucha and Mariupol. These are filtration camps through which hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian women and men have passed. And these are thousands of Ukrainian children who were forcibly taken to Russia.
All of you have seen photos from Ukrainian roads where people who were simply fleeing the occupation were shot, and you have seen videos from our cities where Russian tanks fired at residential buildings point-blank.
All of you know how much our people give for the liberation of their land – lives, efforts, health.
Officially the death toll for children today is 358 names. But this is only what has been verified and confirmed.
150 days are hundreds of mass graves in the occupied territory, and only after the liberation of our land we will be able to find out how many children are buried THERE…
I ask you now to observe a minute of silence in memory of all Ukrainian men and women, children and adults, soldiers and civilians, whose lives were taken by the Russian war.
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But during these 150 days, there was not a single moment when we were not supported by our true friends.
Today, we will be able to hear many of them.
We will be able to discuss what we have already managed to do for our people, our country.
And what else can we do? To rebuild our future. The one we dreamed of.
The war is not over. But our heart beats.
It is beating at the front – and today we will talk about how to help men and women who have gone through combat operations. The effects of war should not poison their lives when peace comes. As well as the lives of millions of civilians who survived shelling and abuse from the occupiers.
The Ukrainian heart beats in captivity, and we remember all those for whom freedom still needs to be won. We must unite the world even more strongly for their liberation.
Millions of Ukrainian hearts beat with fear that they will not be able to return home. We have to overcome this fear – all together. So that Ukrainian forced migrants could live again in Ukraine, in their own home, in safety.
Last year, when we had our first summit, it had a different agenda. We talked about development and worked for development. School nutrition reform and the fight against domestic violence. Barrier-free environment and gender pay gap. Paternity leave for dads and wider access to education for every child…
These topics seem familiar to first ladies. But completely different tasks that we are solving now are quite natural for us. This also manifested itself in 150 days – how much additional strength we have.
Soon, the First Lady of Poland, Agata Duda, will join us from Warsaw. After February 24, Poland received the largest number of Ukrainian citizens – those who sought protection.
And together with Mrs. Agata, we evacuated another thousand children with cancer, who could not receive proper help in the conditions of this war.
I am also sincerely grateful to the First Lady of France, Brigitte Macron, for the warmth with which she met Ukrainian children with cancer, for the fact that she continues to take care of their treatment.
Today, the First Lady of Lithuania, Mrs. Diana Nausėdienė, is here in Kyiv with us. Recently we opened a unique Ukrainian center in Vilnius with her, a center for our people.
And I am sincerely grateful to the First Lady of Latvia, Andra Levite, for her patronage of newborn Ukrainians who are born in this country.
The First Lady of the United States, Jill Biden, who we will also hear today, is our partner and advisor in the National Mental Health Recovery Program, as is the First Lady of Israel, Michal Herzog.
The First Lady of Turkey, Emine Erdoğan, is doing everything to make Ukrainian children in her country feel at home, so that they can live without the trauma of war.
Soon we will hear from the President of the European Council and his wife, Amélie, to whom I am grateful for her efforts to help Ukrainian women during the war.
We are here today – in different formats – 22 first ladies of their countries. And united, we are already helping thousands and thousands of people.
Whatever the war, we are able to protect life and overcome the ruins. No matter what the pain was, we can make it so that in life there is again a place for children’s smiles, happiness and peace.
We all.
Each of us.
Within the framework of the Summit and on the Ukrainian public charity platform United24, we launched fundraising for type C ambulances.
Special resuscitation vehicles that will save the lives of thousands of people in Ukraine – seriously wounded, seriously ill, in the hot spots of the front and in the rear – everyone whose life may depend on a few minutes on the way.
So we are acting.
And we invite everyone who seeks the victory of humanity over cruelty to act with us.
First of all, over the brutality of the war. Well, let’s get started!
Thank you for attention.
