Vasilenko wanted to meet in Maidan Square, where pro-European Ukrainian activists defended their rights in 2014 and forced pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych to leave the country. Today, the mother of three is adamant that Russia will never take the nation’s capital. We ask if he has any message for Russian President Vladimir Putin. “We tell him (that) life goes on, we go on living. Your war, your fight against us is now in the background – and we will continue to fight him for as long as it takes, but he will continue to live at the same time,” he said. This race includes her own AK-47 and a pistol she holds close to her heart. On Twitter, where he has created many followers, he posts photos of everyday life. “New kind of fun on the weekend,” he writes in the caption along with a picture from the shooting training. Another post says, “Parliament is still functioning … Even in war we intend to keep democracy functioning.” Vasilenko takes us to a cafeteria in a cafeteria, where volunteers prepare 600 meals a day for the army, territorial defense, hospitals and shelters. As we browse through the photos of her three children, it becomes clear that staying on the front line has a huge personal cost. A few weeks ago she sent her children away for their safety. Speaking of her youngest child, who will be 10 months old in a few days, she says, “She looks at me like” really, mom? Really, will you be away from me? “ But Vasilenko remains firm in her decision to stay – it’s her job, she says. On Wednesday, he will travel to France as part of an effort to present Ukraine’s case to the world. “I’m where I need to be. Things happened for a reason, I firmly believe in it, there is a reason why I was elected in 2019,” says Vasylenko. “We have a project, we have a task, we will complete it and then we will see where life will take us.”
