Julia Mendel on Tucker Carlson’s talk show: “He destroys people.”Image: Screenshot YouTube
In Tucker Carlson’s show, Julia Mendel lays it out loud: the Ukrainian president has a cocaine problem and is actually a monster.
May 13, 2026, 8:38 p.mMay 13, 2026, 8:38 p.m
Denis Trubetskoy, Kyiv / ch media
The war is “no longer black and white,” says Julia Mendel. «He’s dark. And even darker. We see Putin as evil. But Zelensky is also evil, just hidden. In front of the camera he’s a teddy bear, but as soon as the lights go out he turns into a grizzly bear and destroys people.”
The Ukrainian president’s former press secretary gets more and more going in an interview with US influencer Tucker Carlson: Zelensky is “emotionally uncontrollable”, constantly changes “masks” and has no real empathy. He asked her to make “Goebbels propaganda”; Even Carlson has to smile at this statement. In addition, Mendel claims that Selenski’s alleged cocaine use is an “open secret” – although, as with most of her allegations, she remains lacking evidence for this.
Her statements about the negotiations in Istanbul in spring 2022 are doubtful. Mendel claims that Zelensky agreed to cede Donbass at that time. At that point, however, she had been out of office and not involved in the talks for almost a year. In any case, such a point cannot be found in any known drafts of an agreement.
Mendel also paints a bleak political picture: In Ukraine, “everything is forbidden” and there is a “cancel culture” operated by the president. Corruption is at least tolerated. Mendel did not base this on well-known investigations, but rather on personal anecdotes. Zelenskiy is “the biggest beneficiary of the war.”
Julia Mendel on Tucker Carlson’s talk showImage: Screenshot YouTube
“Before just a failure, now a traitor”
At the end of the interview, she addressed Vladimir Putin directly in Russian: “Peace is the only thing you can do right today.” There is no winner, “Slavs kill Slavs”. At the same time, she declares Zelensky to be the biggest obstacle to peace – Ukraine must be pressured into an agreement.
Unsurprisingly, her appearance at Tucker Carlson went down pretty badly in Ukraine. In the past she was just “a failure”, “now she is also a traitor,” says one comment. Selenski’s communications advisor Dmytro Lytwyn reacts just as briefly: “This lady did not take part in the negotiations in Istanbul and she has not been in her senses for a long time.”
The president, for his part, is caught up in the past. When Volodimir Zelensky clearly won the elections in Ukraine in 2019, the former television manager and actor wanted to do many things differently than his predecessors – including in communication. He advertised the position of press spokesman publicly. Hundreds of applications were received. What was required were three languages, experience in journalism and the willingness to be available around the clock if in doubt.
The choice was surprisingly Julia Mendel. The now 39-year-old journalist from Kherson – the city was liberated by Ukrainian troops in November 2022 – was not an unknown quantity in the industry, but neither was she a star. She worked for Ukrainian television channels and especially in the international media environment.
Picture from better days: Volodimir Selenski and Julia Mendel at one of his first press conferences in October 2019.Image: NurPhoto
She wrote as a freelancer for the New York Times between 2017 and 2019. Shortly before she moved to the presidential office, she co-authored a highly acclaimed article about possible conflicts of interest of then US Vice President Joe Biden. Her contacts with the US media and her good English were probably the deciding factors for her appointment. Today this decision seems problematic.
Remarkable transformation after release
Mendel caused controversy even during her time in office. In her first year, she pushed aside a journalist who tried to ask a question – prompting colleagues to call for her to be fired. When Selenski separated from her in July 2021, it came as no surprise. What is remarkable, however, is the change that followed: In books published in 2021 and 2022, Mendel still painted an extremely positive picture of the president.
Her tone has now changed significantly. On her English-language X channel, which has over 160,000 followers, she regularly criticizes Selenski and addresses problems such as mobilization. At the beginning of the year she also made headlines when she accused the then head of the presidential office, Andrij Jermak, of using “magical rituals”.
Even among Zelensky’s harshest critics, Mendel’s current behavior is met with skepticism. What is worrying, however, is the impact that their performances could have internationally. Tucker Carlson reaches a large audience that is already critical of Ukraine – and tends to equate the country with its president. (aargauerzeitung.ch)