The former spokeswoman for the Ukrainian president, Yulia Mendel, has made sharp accusations against Volodymyr Zelensky, saying that he has rejected five peace agreements since 2022 and has turned Ukraine into a "softer version" of Nazi Germany, Russian and foreign media reported, citing her public statements.
Mendel also claims that Ukraine could recover if it chooses peace. According to her words, quoted by the publications, the current course of power in Kiev is prolonging the war and deepening the country's internal problems.
Harsh words against Zelensky
The remark about a "soft version of Nazi Germany" caused a strong response in the media, but it remains a political assessment of Mendel, not a confirmed fact. In the publications, she also criticizes Western leaders, and according to her words quoted by the media, they put the damage done to Russia before helping Ukraine.
Mendel was Zelensky's spokesperson from 2019 to 2021 and has repeatedly criticized him publicly in recent years, especially against the backdrop of corruption scandals surrounding part of his entourage, international publications note.
Allegations of peace proposals
There is currently no independent confirmation from the Ukrainian side or international mediators for the claim of “five peace agreements“. The media that cover Mendel's words do not indicate publicly documented five separate signed or finalized agreements, but speak of her assessment of missed opportunities for peace.
At the same time, President Zelensky stated in recent days that Ukraine has received “decent ideas“ from American envoys to end the war, and on September 14 said that Kiev was ready to consider stopping the strikes with guarantees that Russia would also refrain from attacking Ukrainian targets, Reuters reports.
Azarov again speaks about records in NABU and SAP
In parallel with Mendel's statements, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office have thousands of records related to Zelensky and people from his entourage.
And this claim remains unsubstantiated by publicly presented evidence for now. NABU and SAP have indeed announced a number of large-scale investigations and operations against corruption, including in the energy sector and in cases related to individuals from the political elite, but have not publicly confirmed such a formulation about “thousands of records“ against the president and his people.
In the Ukrainian public space, the topic of corruption and the possibility of negotiations with Russia remains one of the most sensitive. The current statements by Mendel and Azarov fit precisely into this dispute, but at the moment they should be considered as statements of individual individuals, and not as confirmed facts.
Sources: Reuters, AFP, Gazeta.Ru, NABU, SAP, Ukrainskaya Pravda, RBC