Ukraine's first lady says the Russian invasion made her 9-year-old son want to learn how to use a rifle

• Ukraine's first lady is in Washington, DC, this week to ask the US for more help in the war against Russia.

• Olena Zelenska told NBC News the war made her nine-year-old son want to learn how to use a rifle.

• "What I really want to ensure, is that the childhood of my son is given back to him," she said.

Ukraine's First Lady Olena Zelenska told NBC News on Wednesday that Russia's invasion had made her nine-year-old son want to learn how to use a rifle.

Zelenska, who is married to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and shares two children with him, told NBC that the ongoing war had robbed kids of their childhood and that she hopes they will be able to find normalcy again.

"Before the war, my son used to go to the folk dance ensemble. He played piano. He learned English. He of course attended sports club," Zelenska told NBC News. "Now, the only thing he wants to do is martial arts and how to use a rifle."

Her son now says he hopes to become a soldier one day, she said.

"What I really want to ensure, is that the childhood of my son is given back to him and that he enjoys his life to the fullest," she said.

Zelenska and her husband have an 18-year-old daughter and a nine-year-old son.

In the first two months of Russia's invasion, the family was not able to see each other at all. Zelenskyy lived in his office with his staff while his wife and kids were kept in a secret location.

Zelenska is no longer in hiding but told CNN last month that she is not allowed to see her husband very often and when she does, it's only for a short period of time. She added that their relationship was "on pause."

Zelenska was in Washington, DC, this week, her first trip to the US since the war started. Her husband stayed in Ukraine as the war intensifies in the eastern Donbas region.

Speaking to Congress on Wednesday, Zelenska said she was representing Ukraine as a "daughter and as a mother" rather than as the wife of the Ukrainian president.

"I am asking for weapons. Weapons that would not be used to wage a war on somebody else's land, but to protect one's home and the right to wake up alive in that home," Zelenska said.

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