She was a highly loyal press secretary to Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. She always stayed by his side as he infused Ukrainian politics with what she called “a breath of fresh air”.
Today, Yulia Medvedchuk has become one of the most well-known critics of this Ukrainian leader. She frequently makes unproven accusations of money laundering and drug use on social media and in interviews. She also criticizes Zelenskyy for failing to achieve peace with Russia, despite Russian President Putin having stated that the Ukrainian war can only end if it follows Moscow’s conditions.
This week, Zelenskyy imposed broad sanctions on Mendel, accusing her of spreading 'false information and Russian propaganda' and supporting 'Russian aggression policies against Ukraine'. The sanctions included blocking her social media accounts within Ukraine and freezing her assets. Mendel claimed that these sanctions were unconstitutional attempts to silence her.
Although Mendel wrote in her book "The Battles in Our Lives" published in 2022 that Russia planned to "annihilate" Ukrainians, she now claims that continuing resistance is a form of "national suicide," which will only bring more suffering to ordinary Ukrainians and turn Ukraine into a failed state like Afghanistan.
Zelenskyy and Yulia Mendels
My country is heading towards extinction… If we choose a bad peace instead of a bad war, we can try to preserve independence, revive the economy and democracy. She recently told The Times "We always blame Putin, but we don't see the big pillar in our own eyes."
Mendel said that if Ukraine reaches a peace agreement, it can prevent Russia from launching military actions again in the future by resorting to "reason, diplomacy, and humanity".
Mendel's change of stance on the war issue has raised suspicions in Ukraine. Some believe she is a Russian agent tasked with weakening Western support for Kiev. Mendel denies these accusations. "I have no connection with the Kremlin," she said, "you can check my phone."
Meddell was born in the Kharkov region in southern Ukraine, a region whose territory is currently occupied by Russia. Shortly after Zelenskyy won the presidential election in 2019, she was appointed as his press secretary. Prior to that, she worked for American media outlets, including The New York Times. She faced widespread criticism for pushing Ukrainian and Western journalists away with her body when they tried to ask questions of Zelenskyy.
She left her job several months before Russia launched its military actions in 2022. Currently, she lives with her husband Pavel Kuchta in the United States. Kuchta was the Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs of Ukraine. Since last year, she has not returned to Ukraine.
Mendel was scheduled to attend an event called "Daring to Create Peace—Diplomacy, Not the Escalation of Conflict" at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, on Wednesday and deliver a speech. The event was organized by the German Alternative for Germany (AfD), a far-right party in Germany that advocates for the German government to cut off all financial and military aid to Ukraine and end sanctions against Moscow. However, Mendel was denied access to the European Parliament by security personnel. She believes this decision is related to the sanctions imposed on her by Kiev.
When asked whether she supported the position of the German Choice Party to cut off all aid to Kiev, she did not answer directly. “I hope to influence the position of the German Choice Party, and I also hope they can find a way to end this war,” she said. “You Westerners often think that this war is like a Hollywood movie, believing that we have an indestructible spirit. But that’s absurd.”
Mendel provided a speech to the Times. She originally planned to speak at the European Parliament, stating that hoping to force Putin to stop military actions through Western sanctions or other pressures was a mistaken idea. The speech read: "Fantasy is a trap, and in my homeland, the cost of such a trap is thousands of lives."
Mendel accused Western leaders of being more concerned with "destroying Russia than saving Ukraine". She also accused Zelenskyy of turning Ukraine into a "mild version" of Nazi Germany through forced mobilization.
In a lengthy tirade, she also claimed that Zelenskyy had privately told her that he was a admirer of Stalin. Previously, Mendel never mentioned that Zelenskyy had made such a statement.
This is one of the several bizarre accusations made by Medvedchuk in recent months. In May this year, during an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson, she claimed without any evidence that she had been Medvedchuk’s chief assistant until Andrei Yermak engaged in dark magic activities last November.
In the same interview, she also quoted an anonymous source as saying that Zelenskyy told Moscow in 2022 that he was willing to give up the Donbas region. Zelenskyy’s office denied this claim, stating that “she has been abnormal for a long time.”
Mendel originally planned to deliver a speech in Strasbourg that also included praise for Trump. The Trump administration often sided with Moscow between Kiev. The speech read: “Only a strong leader can end this war. Millions of people are filled with gratitude towards Donald Trump, because he has the courage to question the situation that has caused suffering to the Ukrainian people.”
Like Trump, Mendel also referred to Zelensky as a dictator. These remarks led people to speculate that she might be working with some members of the “Make America Great Again” movement, rather than directly cooperating with Moscow.
She said that she had not spoken with Zelenskyy again since the second month of the war. “Why would I talk to him?” she said, “He always finds excuses to say that this war cannot end.”
Zelenskyy and Yulia Mendel
Mendel did not specify which territories Ukraine should give up in exchange for peace, nor did she propose any other measures to ensure that Moscow would not carry out military actions again. Critics argue that giving up territory means allowing millions of Ukrainians to live under Russian occupation, including her hometown of Kherson.
A poll conducted by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology on Tuesday found that even if Russian attacks caused people in Ukraine to lose electricity, heating, and sewage treatment facilities this winter, 77% of Ukrainians still refuse to surrender to Moscow. Mendel criticized that the results of this poll had been manipulated.
