First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska spoke at Columbia University at the invitation of the World Leaders Forum – the university’s international discussion platform.
The Forum invites presidents, prime ministers, heads of international organizations, and other influential world leaders to discuss key global political, economic, and social issues.
“In Ukraine, we are often asked how it is possible that after a night of attacks, when no one has slept because of the explosions, people still go to work and children still go to school. How cafés clear away the glass shattered by strikes and reopen that very same day. This does not happen once or twice. It happens every day, because Russian attacks do not stop, and in many of our cities they have not stopped for a single day throughout the years of this war. This resilience is not an innate trait or some exceptional ability. It emerges where there is trust between people and an understanding that the fate of the country depends on the decisions of each individual,” Olena Zelenska said.
The First Lady noted that throughout their history, Ukrainians have had to exercise this ability far too often because they have had to fight for the right to exist. The President’s wife cited historical examples of the suppression of the Ukrainian language under tsarist rule, as well as the extermination of Ukrainian intellectuals and peasants and the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people under Soviet rule.
Olena Zelenska thanked Columbia University for its longstanding interest in studying and better understanding Ukraine.
“Columbia University is one of the educational institutions around the world where the study of Ukraine and all things Ukrainian began long before Ukraine became the focus of global attention. Yuri Shevelov – one of the most distinguished scholars of the Ukrainian language in the 20th century – worked here for more than two decades. Courses on Ukrainian language and history have been taught here and continue to be offered today,” the First Lady said.
A year ago, Columbia University officially joined the Global Coalition of Ukrainian Studies, which now brings together more than 100 universities and institutions in different countries.
“Knowledge empowers us. It makes both individuals and entire societies stronger. Universities, libraries, translations, and academic exchanges are outposts of intellectual resilience against fabrications, manipulation, and lies – the favored weapons of dictatorships and aggressors. This is the kind of intellectual resilience the entire world urgently needs today,” the First Lady emphasized.