Ukraine first woman Olena Zelenska in UAE amid Russia’s conflict

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ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Ukraine’s first woman on Wednesday supplied spirited assist to her nation’s folks whereas visiting the United Arab Emirates, a rustic that also stays open to Russia regardless of Western sanctions.

Olena Zelenska described her position and that of different first women and gents on the earth as an actual energy whereas talking earlier than a packed ballroom on International Women’s Day. She additionally applauded the work of the common Ukrainian amid the continuing conflict.

“We are a force and we can continue to change the world,” Zelenska stated on the Forbes 30/50 Summit by way of a translator.

Zelenska’s journey to the United Arab Emirates capital comes because the UAE stays one of many few direct routes out of Moscow — for each folks fleeing conscription and for the rich who need to park their cash in a nation with entry to Western monetary markets.

Already, the U.S. Treasury has expressed issues with the Russian cash flowing into Dubai’s red-hot actual property market. Meanwhile, the superyachts of Russian oligarchs even have repeatedly turned up within the Emirates for the reason that begin of Moscow’s conflict on Ukraine final yr.

However, the UAE has voted in opposition to Russia’s invasion on the United Nations and has donated humanitarian support to Ukraine for the reason that conflict started. Her husband, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has held a number of calls with UAE chief Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Meanwhile, the UAE hosted the prisoner alternate that freed WNBA star Brittney Griner and Russian arms seller Viktor Bout in December.

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Zelenska arrived within the UAE on Tuesday and met with Sheikh Mohammed at Qasr al-Bahar in Abu Dhabi, the nation’s capital. There, Sheikh Mohammed pledged $4 million to Zelenska’s basis that can go towards the development of orphanages, the Emirates’ state-run WAM information company reported.

“Sheikh Mohammed reiterated the UAE’s commitment to the people of Ukraine through ongoing humanitarian aid, while stressing the importance of international and regional efforts aimed at reaching a political solution to re-establish security, stability and peace,” WAM stated.

Zelenska has taken a extra distinguished position in selling Ukraine for the reason that conflict started. She met with U.S. first woman Jill Biden when the American president’s spouse made a shock, fast go to to Ukraine from Slovakia in May. She’s additionally traveled the world over, met leaders and advised the United Nations in February: “We have the right to live free, not to be killed or tortured.”

Speaking earlier than the gang, Zelenska recounted the story of a schoolteacher nonetheless main her college students by way of a video name from a snowy avenue, though energy and web connections stay shaky within the nation. She additionally introduced up a 30-year-old feminine fight medic killed within the combating close to Bakhmut within the east, which drew a pant from the ladies gathered on the summit.

“We are inspired by the examples and I’m sure these exmaples will stay in our hearts forever,” Zelenska stated.

She added, to cheers: “Ukrainian women and men have been adapting so fast that our enemies have not been able to come up with new challenges for us.”

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Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.

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