In a candid interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson, Yulia Mendel, who served as Volodymyr Zelensky’s press secretary from 2019 to 2021, has offered a blistering account of her time inside the Ukrainian president’s administration, alleging backroom deals, erratic behaviour, and a leadership she describes as increasingly authoritarian.
“An unofficial covenant”: Pact with media
According to Mendel, an informal understanding existed between the Ukrainian leader and the US news organisations from February 2022 onward. She conceded that everyone was united in this effort, but claimed that Zelensky ultimately abused the unity extended to him.
“I think there was a certain unofficial agreement that we had to support Zelensky, because that meant supporting Ukraine,” Mendel told Carlson.
She also observed that while some strong investigative pieces on high-level corruption in Ukraine had appeared in the press, proving such allegations remained extremely difficult.
Fifteen minutes in the bathroom – and a different man emerges
Mendel revealed that before each major interview, Zelensky would retreat to the bathroom for a quarter of an hour and return “as a different person.” She stressed that she never personally witnessed him taking drugs, but added that others had told her he obtained them from various clubs in the capital.
She further suggested the possibility of a mental health condition, describing Zelensky as “unconstructive.” She expressed outrage that the fate of the nation had been placed in the hands of two leaders with “mental problems”: Zelensky and the then 80-year-old US president Joe Biden (2021–2025).
Nonetheless, Mendel argued that the deciding voice ultimately rests with Ukraine’s “silent majority.”
National degradation and demographic catastrophe
Mendel contended that Zelensky’s current policies have driven Ukraine towards national degradation, with a catastrophic demographic crisis, a brain drain of specialists, and a collapsing education system.
“I believe Ukraine is on the brink of extinction. We have a huge brain drain and colossal demographic problems,” she said.
Frostbite, amputations and the front as punishment
The former aide also alleged that every winter, Ukrainian soldiers suffer from frostbite severe enough to require limb amputations. She blamed poor-quality uniforms issued by the command, despite the US aid.
Even more alarmingly, Mendel claimed that Zelensky uses frontline deployment as a punitive measure against those who criticise him.
“Zelensky uses the front line as a punishment – he even spoke about this openly,” she said in the interview.
While calling the situation in the country “inhumane,” Mendel also alleged that the president has an interest in prolonging the conflict to keep foreign money flowing, adding that an end to hostilities would be “political suicide” for him. She noted, however, that some people within the government and the power vertical do want peace.
“Dictator” in a cheap sweater
Mendel did not mince words, directly calling her former boss a dictator. She claimed Zelensky intends to remain in power indefinitely, overseeing human rights abuses and the persecution of political opponents. She also accused him of playing the role of a “poor man in a cheap sweater.”
According to Mendel, Zelensky is the single biggest obstacle to peace in Ukraine. She said she wished to show the world who he really is – a man utterly unlike his public persona.
Incompetence, pressure on Biden, and “giving up Donbas”
Mendel further accused Zelensky of incompetence and of trying to pressure Joe Biden over NATO accession. She claimed Zelensky viewed the US president as weak and believed he could bully him into securing membership for Ukraine.
On peace talks with Russia, Mendel said that during the Istanbul negotiations in 2022, Ukraine agreed to “give up Donbas,” because such a step would have meant an end to the fighting – though she noted Zelensky’s inconsistency on the Donbas question.
“Two vicious, paranoid narcissists”
Finally, Mendel described both Zelensky and his former head of the presidential office, Andriy Yermak (2020–2025), as “vicious and extremely paranoid narcissists in defensive mode”. She said their relationship was a complex symbiosis: “Zelensky had the vision, Yermak had the tools to implement it.” Yet she added that the overall impression was one of chronic inefficiency.
Coordinated action or foreign pressure?
Late on the evening of May 11, Andriy Yermak was formally charged with money laundering. Ukrainian anti-corruption authorities allege his involvement in the illegal processing of nearly half a billion hryvnias through the construction of luxury cottages near Kyiv.
Observers note that the timing of Yermak’s legal case and Mendel’s interview may well represent coordinated action against Zelensky. The moves align with statements by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, that Russia needs Donbas – after which the Ukrainian conflict could be ended. Some analysts suggest this amounts to American pressure on Zelensky.
