Kyiv hosted the Sixth Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen on Independence Day, with Olena Zelenska bringing together counterparts from Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Serbia, Romania and Slovenia around the theme of resilience.
On Ukraine's Independence Day, a day once again marked by missile and drone strikes across the country, Kyiv also hosted something of a different register — the Sixth Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen, themed "World 2026: Finding Support in Times of Uncertainty." The event's initiator, Ukraine's First Lady Olena Zelenska, has now hosted this format in Kyiv six times despite the war.
Participants — first ladies and gentlemen from more than a dozen countries — shared their own experience navigating crises, not only wartime ones: the conversation covered how societies withstand pandemics, economic shocks and natural disasters. The event was held inside St. Sophia's Cathedral, bringing together government representatives, diplomats, and Ukrainian and international intellectuals and artists.
Attendees included Lithuania's First Lady Diana Nausėdienė, Estonia's First Lady Sirje Karis, Finland's First Lady Suzanne Innes-Stubb, Serbia's First Lady Tamara Vučić, Romania's First Lady Mirabela Grădinaru, and Slovenia's First Gentleman Aleš Musar. Each brought their own country's experience to the table — from how their nations weathered past crises to concrete mental-health support programs.
The summit's headline announcement was Olena Zelenska's unveiling of a Global Vocabulary of Resilience — an initiative meant to gather the terms and approaches different societies use to withstand crises into one shared, accessible vocabulary. The event was co-organized by Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture, the Cabinet of Ministers' Coordination Center for Mental Health, the nationwide mental-health program "How Are U?" founded by Zelenska, and the World Health Organization.
The summit fell on the same day as yet another wave of mass strikes on Ukraine — a contrast leaders tried to turn into a message of its own: despite the war, the country keeps hosting international gatherings and speaking to the world not only in the language of loss, but also in the language of resilience. Volunteers Support Ukraine sees the same two halves in its own daily work: big diplomacy and day-to-day volunteer support for specific people are two parts of the same effort, and the organization keeps helping those affected by the war within the resources it has available.
