Olena Zelenska emphasises the role of soft power in diplomacy during a meeting of heads of foreign diplomatic missions of Ukraine

The First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, took part in a meeting of heads of foreign diplomatic missions of Ukraine entitled ‘Military Diplomacy: Resilience, Weapons, Victory’ in Dnipro. In her speech, she emphasised the importance of soft power and cultural diplomacy in securing support for Ukraine internationally. She stressed that cooperation between diplomatic missions and Ukrainian initiatives is a key element in promoting Ukraine worldwide. 

The First Lady also expressed her gratitude to Ukrainian diplomats for their active participation in cultural and educational projects, such as opening more than 200 Ukrainian bookshelves, launching nearly 90 audio guides in Ukrainian, creating the Global Coalition for Ukrainian Studies in Washington, and supporting humanitarian projects of the Olena Zelenska Foundation. She spoke about the regional summit of the School Food Coalition, which Ukraine will host for the first time in November 2024. 

Mrs Zelenska paid special attention to the preparations for the Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen, which will be held in Kyiv for the fourth time this year. The First Lady expressed her hope that the new Summit, dedicated to child safety, would be even more effective than the previous one. 

‘The battle for hearts and minds is no less important today than for territories. We continue to prove to the world that to be with Ukraine is to be on the bright side. I am grateful to the Ukrainian diplomatic missions that do this,’ – she concluded.