Olena Zelenska: ‘You count pennies, we count casualties’

Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska agreed the economic impact of Russia’s invasion is tough on the West but, as Britons count pennies, her country counts casualties.

In an interview with the BBC recorded in Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s wife also insisted it was important to share human stories about the toll the conflict was taking.

Her comments come as Ukrainian troops undergo a counter offensive in a bid to retake a swathe of the south.

Zelenska was asked what message she had for British people who are facing soaring energy bills in part due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. She said: “I understand the situation is very tough. But let me recall that at the time of the Covid-19 epidemic, when there were price hikes, Ukraine was affected as well. The prices are going up in Ukraine as well. But in addition, our people get killed.

“So when you start counting pennies on your bank account or in your pocket, we do the same and count our casualties.”

Zelenska also spoke about a Ukrainian boy who was filmed crossing the Polish border in floods of tears last March.

She said: “Fathers and mothers watching this could not but break into tears. I think that everyone – every human in the world – should feel the same.

“That’s why we have to tell these stories, to show these stories, because these are the faces of a war. Not a number of bombs dropped, not the amount of money spent, human stories – and there are a thousand stories like that.”

Yesterday it was revealed British troops joined an exercise with Swedish and Finnish armed forces in northern Finland.

Exercise Vigilant Knife offered a strengthening of “inter-operability”, as both Sweden and Finland bid to join Nato, the Ministry of Defence said.

In Ukraine, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was once again knocked offline in the early hours of Saturday amid sustained shelling that destroyed a key power line and penetrated deep into the plant’s premises, local Russian-backed authorities said.

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency are currently inspecting the plant in attempts to avert a potentially catastrophic nuclear disaster.

Zaporizhzhia is near the 350km long front line in the south, which Ukrainian forces are currently probing.

Meanwhile, Latvia yesterday urged its Nato allies to offer Ukraine modern, western-made battle tanks to turn the tide of the conflict against Russia.

President Levits said: “The West, the US, the European Union, all western democratic states should now not just maintain but increase their military aid to Ukraine – this military aid is really effective.”

Asked whether this should include western tanks, combat jets and other armaments that Ukraine had previously been denied, he replied: “From a political perspective I can say the West should hand over all the weapons Ukraine needs.”