Exclusive interview with Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska

As Russia’s war on Ukraine enters its fifth month, constant reminders emerge that it’s being mostly waged against soft targets: civilians. Today President Zelensky called the attack on a shopping center “one of the most defiant terrorist acts in European history.” Search and rescue operations continue, but at least 18 people are confirmed dead. The Russians cling to their familiar line, that their missile strike targeted “western weapons and ammunition.” President Zelensky says the enemy has marked him as target number one, and his family as number two. But neither he nor First Lady Olena Zelenska is cowering in fear. Like him, she’s busy on many fronts, rallying the world to Ukraine’s cause, supporting her people during this devastating war, and being a mother to two children. Zelenska met her husband when they were just kids, and in a TV exclusive from Kyiv, she tells Christiane that their relationship is necessarily on pause, like so many other families fighting for their nation’s survival.

Also on today's show: former NATO Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe Richard Shirreff; Karissa Haugeberg, author of Women Against Abortion. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices