Zelenskyy’s former press secretary criticizes him in US interview, Presidential Office calls her 'unstable'

Iuliia Mendel, who served as the first press secretary to President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy from June 3, 2019, to July 9, 2021, gave an interview lasting over 1.5 hours to conservative American commentator Tucker Carlson, in which she highly critically assessed Zelenskyy's presidency.

In particular, Mendel claims that Zelenskyy allegedly told Vladimir Putin that Ukraine would not join NATO and was later ready to give up Donbas.

In her opinion, Zelenskyy is supposedly interested in continuing the war and is "one of the biggest obstacles to peace today," while peace should be achieved by any means, a point the former press secretary also addressed to Putin during the interview.

According to Mendel, the president of Ukraine is "emotionally unmanageable," and his public statements include "manipulations, facts taken out of context, or outright lies." The former press secretary also accused her former employer of covering up "money laundering."

Adviser to the President of Ukraine on communications Dmytro Lytvyn, commenting on the interview at the request of journalists, called such accusations against Volodymyr Zelenskyy "unserious."

"This lady did not participate in negotiations, did not participate in decision-making, has not been herself for a long time, and who tells her what or whether it actually happened – it is unserious to comment on," he told journalists.