The main thing for Ukraine today is that the whole other world hears and sees us, and it is important that our war does not become "habitual," so tha… - Olena Zelenska

I am grateful for the opportunity to be here and to address the Congress of the United States of America. I know this is the first time when the wife of the president of a foreign country has the honor to address you within these walls. This is really important for me and for my country. And today, I want to address you as politicians and party representatives as well as mothers and fathers — grandmothers and grandfathers, daughters and sons. I want to address you not as First Lady, but as a daughter and as a mother. No matter what positions and titles we reach in our lives, first of all, we always remain a part of our family. We always remain children to our parents. And no matter how old we are, they love us as their children. And we are always parents to our children. And no matter what happens to them, they will always remain our children. This is the great truth of our life. Our family represents the whole world for us. And we’d do everything to preserve it. And we are happy when we succeed in it, and we cry when we cannot save it. And we remain completely broken when our world is destroyed by a war. Tens of thousands of such worlds have been destroyed in Ukraine.

Every Ukrainian is a target for Russians: Every woman, every child. Those who died the other day from a Russian missile [while] trying to evacuate from Kramatorsk were not members of the presidential family, they were just Ukrainians. So the number one target for the enemy is all of us.

What happened just over a week ago was impossible to believe. Our country was peaceful; our cities, towns, and villages were full of life. On February 24th, we all woke up to the announcement of a Russian invasion. Tanks crossed the Ukrainian border, planes entered our airspace, missile launchers surrounded our cities. Despite assurances from Kremlin-backed propaganda outlets, who call this a "special operation" - it is, in fact, the mass murder of Ukrainian civilians.