Olena Zelenska Visits Harvard, Talks Role of Scholarship Amid Invasion of Ukraine

Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska discussed the importance of studying Ukrainian culture and politics at a Harvard Institute of Politics talk on Tuesday.

Zelenska also announced during the event that she had donated several books — which were found in the rubble of a Ukrainian printing house that had been destroyed by a Russian missile strike that killed seven people — to Harvard as a reminder of the “tragedy that happened that day.”

“To see the death of books, the killing of books, paradoxically, was just as painful because it was a direct metaphor,” Zelenska said. “It was the killing of culture and the killing of science.”

University spokesperson did not confirm that the books had been donated or provide additional details about where they would be held.

Zelenska’s talk — which was co-hosted by the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute and the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and occurred entirely in Ukrainian — comes as she and her husband, Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy, travel to the U.S. to speak at the United Nations General Assembly and shore up support for Ukraine from Western allies.

In her talk, Zelenska lamented the loss of Ukrainian culture during the war against Russia, saying that Russia has been “openly trying to destroy” Ukraine and its culture.

“Our Ukrainians are fighting for our classical writers, our scientists, that the empire appropriated and is using for its propaganda,” Zelenska said. “We need to fight to get our history back from the empire.”

During the event, Zelenska praised Harvard for its programs on Ukrainian studies, including efforts to study and maintain their culture.

“We thank Harvard for preserving the culture that is being hunted,” Zelenska said. “It’s the same as saving a life.”

Zelenska’s talk also comes amid increased student efforts to celebrate Ukrainian culture on campus with the formation of the Harvard Undergraduate Ukraine Solidarity Group.

HUUSG co-presidents Mariia Hnatiuk ’27 and Mariia Solovii ’27, who spoke with Zelenska after the event, said her speech gave the group “a lot of inspiration” to continue to host programming at Harvard.

Zelenska also spoke about her work launching Ukraine’s National Program for Mental Health, which she said “has been supporting projects related to the psychological rehabilitation of children” who have been traumatized by the war.

Mental health is “one of the most important themes for the people today,” Zelenska said, emphasizing that while the program began in response to the war, she hopes to maintain it after the war ends.

“I really hope it will last a few years, but in the end it will not be related to the war,” she said. “It will be related to the mental health of children and adolescents in a peaceful Ukraine.”

At several points during the talk, Zelenska urged the audience to remain steadfast in their commitment to learning about and sharing Ukrainian culture.

“We do not want new tragedies to bring the focus of attention back on Ukraine,” she said. “It’s enough. We’ve had enough.”

“We need to be more active, be everywhere, and remind the world about ourselves,” Zelenska added.

While she remained careful with what she said in relation to Ukraine’s political strategy for its war against Russia, Zelenska said the country was happy to negotiate an end to the war — but only when its terms were respected.

“Ukraine, in this negotiation, will be in a situation when it can dictate its own terms,” she said. “Not the other way around.”

—Staff writer William C. Mao can be reached at william.mao@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @williamcmao.

—Staff writer Dhruv T. Patel can be reached at dhruv.patel@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @dhruvtkpatel.