Iuliia Mendel stood by the Ukrainian President’s side for two years as one of his closest aides, but is now a fierce critic of Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
In 2022, she wrote a book in which she credited him with bringing hope to Ukraine and giving her a voice. However, in an interview with Tucker Carlson, she explained why she has changed her stance, writes The Telegraph. Mendel condemns the Ukrainian leader and calls Zelenskyy “the biggest obstacle to peace”. Her message is that the war cannot be won, and that Kyiv must capitulate.
Zelenskyy’s former press secretary describes his war strategy as “national suicide” and warns that it risks leading the country down the “Afghanistan path”.
The shift in Mendel’s views has led to suspicions and accusations that she is a Russian agent, which Mendel dismisses as “ridiculous”.
“I have no connections to Russia.”
On social media and in interviews, she has claimed that Zelenskyy abuses drugs and is enriching himself through the war.
Mendel is accused of aligning herself with the MAGA movement and the German party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in order to undermine military and economic support from the US and Europe for Ukraine.
Last month, Zelenskyy imposed strict sanctions on her for spreading “disinformation and Russian propaganda” and for supporting “Russia’s aggressive policy towards Ukraine”.
Mendel accuses Zelenskyy of trying to silence all voices “he considers either disloyal or critical”. Although she acknowledges that Vladimir Putin clearly started the war, her criticism is directed almost exclusively at the Ukrainian president.
“I believe Zelensky bears just as much responsibility for this war as Putin. Perhaps 60/40, Zelenskyy 40 [per cent] and Putin 60 [per cent].’
According to most Western media outlets, including The Telegraph, such rhetoric is a key element of the Kremlin’s disinformation campaign to undermine Western support for Kyiv.
A spokesperson for Zelenskyy’s office said that Mendel “has never had access to information about the war or how decisions are made in the president’s office”.
“Her statements merely reflect her own fantasies and the interests of those who pay for her living expenses in America and Europe.”
A radical shift
Mendel grew up in Kherson, which has been severely affected by Russian attacks and is partially occupied. She was hand-picked to join Zelensky’s office when she was just 32 years old. She now lives in the US with her husband Pavlo Kukhta, a former Ukrainian Deputy Minister for the Economy.
In her 2022 book, The Fight for Our Lives, she painted an admiring portrait of Zelenskyy as “a breath of fresh air”, and portrayed the war as an existential struggle for Ukraine’s survival. She wrote: “Russia’s intentions were clear: to wipe Ukraine off the map.” But she has now changed her stance on the conditions of the war and its consequences.
Mendel stepped down as Zelenskyy’s spokesperson in 2021, almost 10 months before Russia’s invasion. She said at the time that it was for health reasons, but now claims it was due to her employer’s ‘irregular’ behaviour.
“He really did not behave as a leader should if he wanted to maintain this very fragile balance of peace,” she claims.
Zelenskyy’s office strongly denies this, claiming that Mendel resigned “because she was emotionally unstable and in constant conflict with journalists”.
Like US President Donald Trump, she has described Zelenskyy as a ‘dictator’. She later distanced herself from this label and opted instead for the term ‘autocrat’.
“Perhaps I was a little too harsh in my tone, but the problem is definitely that there is no longer any democracy.”
Donetsk/Luhansk must be surrendered
Putin continues to demand that Ukraine surrender the entire eastern Donbas region, which has a large population of Russian descent. The Crimean Peninsula is not up for discussion, even though Kyiv is also laying claim to this area.
The Kremlin has also repeatedly ruled out the deployment of NATO troops to protect Ukraine’s borders after the war, something London and Paris seem to be completely ignoring in their dream of a ‘coalition of the willing’.
In an interview with Tucker Carlson in May, Mendel claimed that in 2022 Zelenskyy told the Kremlin he would be willing to cede the Donbas. She also claimed that Andriy Yermak practised black magic (!) Yermak was Zelenskyy’s chief of staff until corruption allegations led to his resignation in November.
“He was the right platform to be heard, and I know I was heard,” Mendel said of Carlson. When asked by whom, she added: “By politicians and the White House.”
Donald Trump said in an interview with Newsmax that he had seen an interview with a young Ukrainian woman who claimed that Zelenskyy had ruined Ukraine. It is unclear, however, whether Trump was referring to Mendel, but it seems likely.
Carlson broke with Trump earlier this year due to his opposition to the war in Iran.
Mendel also criticised Western leaders for failing to engage in dialogue with Putin, and praised the AfD for the party’s intention to restore Berlin’s relations with Moscow. Mendel did not express direct support for the AfD, but said that they should play a role in peace efforts.
“[Friedrich] Merz does not speak to Putin (…) The AfD wants to speak to Putin.”
Mendel was originally due to give a speech at the European Parliament in Strasbourg in September, during an event organised by the AfD. She was denied entry, which she attributed to Ukraine’s sanctions against her.
The former press secretary rejected allegations that she was a Russian agent, but says she is “open to dialogue” with all groups, including the AfD and the Trump administration, and that she was “pleased that there are political forces in the West whose view of the situation in Ukraine corresponds with mine”.
She dismissed all criticism, claiming that “the path to peace is not easy (…) [It] will be highly controversial, very difficult, full of accusations and criticism… But the most important thing is to take this path”.
