(KYIV) – Ukraine has imposed a 10-year sanctions package on 10 Russian and Ukrainian individuals accused of spreading disinformation and Russian propaganda, including Yuliia Mendel, the former press secretary to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
According to the Office of the President, the restrictions target individuals who disseminate disinformation and Russian propaganda and support Russia’s aggressive policy toward Ukraine. The sanctions were signed by President Zelenskyy and will remain in effect for 10 years.
The restrictions imposed on Mendel include the deprivation of state awards of Ukraine and other forms of recognition. Her assets will be blocked, meaning she is temporarily deprived of the right to use and dispose of assets belonging to her, as well as assets over which she may directly or indirectly take actions identical in substance to exercising the right to dispose of them. Trade operations will be completely ceased. The transit of resources, flights and transportation through the territory of Ukraine will also be completely halted.
The sanctions prevent the withdrawal of capital outside Ukraine and suspend the fulfilment of economic and financial obligations. Licenses and other permits, the obtaining or possession of which is a condition for carrying out a certain type of activity, will be terminated or suspended, including special permits for the use of subsoil. Participation in the privatisation and lease of state property by residents of a foreign state and persons directly or indirectly controlled by such residents or acting in their interests is prohibited.
Public and defence procurement of goods, works and services from legal entities that are residents of a foreign state and are state-owned, as well as from legal entities whose share capital is owned by a foreign state, is banned. Public and defence procurement from other business entities that sell goods, works and services originating in a foreign state to which sanctions have been applied under this law is also prohibited.
The sanctions follow a controversial interview Mendel gave to American journalist Tucker Carlson in May 2026. Carlson is known for his pro-Russian views and has personally interviewed Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. In that interview, Mendel claimed that Zelenskyy was allegedly ready to give up Donbas to Russia during negotiations in Istanbul in 2022. She asserted that Zelenskyy was prepared for territorial concessions to “stop the horrors of war.”
“I spoke with people who represented Ukraine at the negotiations in Istanbul in 2022. They almost reached an agreement. What is very important, Zelenskyy personally agreed to give away (Donbas), and I was shocked at that moment,” Mendel said.
The former spokesperson added that against this backdrop, Zelenskyy’s recent statements that he cannot give up Donbas look very unpresentable. Mendel also voiced her vision for ending Russia’s war with Ukraine, stating that the only possible option today is a peace agreement between the two countries.
“The only way to support Ukraine today is to push (it) toward a peace agreement,” Mendel said.
She believes it was possible to sit down at the negotiating table and sign a final document a long time ago, but Ukraine’s ally countries are preventing this. In particular, she recalled 2022 and the visit of then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to Kyiv. In her opinion, it was he who prevented “mutual understanding” between the two sides of the conflict. This specific thesis is actively used by Russian propaganda to present Ukraine not as an independent participant in diplomatic processes, but as a puppet of powerful states such as Great Britain and the USA.
Mendel also stated that for ordinary Ukrainians, the war is devoid of any meaning.
“If the war is for joining NATO – Ukraine has no chance of joining; if it’s against Zelenskyy – then he is its main beneficiary; if it’s for the return of territories – Ukraine has been losing them for three years; if it’s for democracy – then there is no democracy in the country now,” she said.
The former press secretary also hinted that the President of Ukraine allegedly broke a promise he made to Russian leader Vladimir Putin in 2019. This refers to the non-aligned status of official Kyiv. Mendel claims that this was exactly what was discussed during the Normandy Summit in December 2019 in Paris.
“Very few people know exactly what he promised,” Mendel hinted to her interviewer.
At the end of the conversation with Carlson, she addressed Russian President Vladimir Putin personally in Russian.
“Vladimir Vladimirovich […] You say that you want peace. Peace is the only thing that can be done right today. Peace is the only possible thing that will make both Ukraine and Russia winners. There is no winner in this war, none. Both countries are losing, Slavs are killing Slavs,” stated Zelenskyy’s former press secretary.
Reaction from Ukrainian society and officials
After her interview appeared in the public information space, Mendel faced a storm of criticism from politicians and public activists. Advisor to the Minister of Defence Serhiy Sternenko believes that the former presidential spokesperson gave the interview to Carlson out of a desire to remind people of herself.
“For the sake of a minute of hype and media mentions, she is ready to go even against her own country and people. It doesn’t matter what they say. As long as they are talking. A pathetic sight,” Sternenko wrote on Facebook.
Strategic communications specialist Volodymyr Anfimov called Mendel’s messages horrific.
“Already in the first minutes of the conversation, Iuliia Mendel called the President of Ukraine one of the main obstacles on the path to peace. She effectively put an equal sign between Zelenskyy and Putin. And this message is so horrific that I don’t even want to reproduce it here,” Anfimov wrote on Facebook.
The Office of the President has refuted Mendel’s statements. They said that as of 2022, she did not participate in negotiations — she indeed held the position of spokesperson for the President of Ukraine from 2019 to 2021 — and had no access to information about decisions made at the highest level.
In particular, the President’s advisor on communications, Dmytro Lytvyn, stated the following:
“This lady did not participate in negotiations, did not participate in decision-making, she has been out of her mind for a long time, and who tells her what there and whether it actually happened — it’s not serious to comment on,” Lytvyn told representatives of the Ukrainian media.
The head of the Centre for Countering Disinformation, Andriy Kovalenko, also denied the words of Zelenskyy’s former spokesperson.
“The issue of giving up territories has never been and will never be on the table. Anyone (I’m talking about Mendel) can voice conspiracy theories in their own interests about giving up Donbas in 2022, citing some sources. But the fact remains — Ukraine has been fighting and is fighting for its territory since 2014,” Kovalenko wrote on his Telegram channel.
The issue of territorial concessions to Russia is the stumbling block that halts all negotiations involving the Ukrainian and Russian sides. Official Moscow insists that Ukraine completely withdraw its troops from the territory of the Donetsk region and renounce the Luhansk region. The Ukrainian side does not agree to such compromises.
Background on Yuliia Mendel
Yuliia Mendel became Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s spokesperson in July 2019, shortly after he took office as President, reportedly as a result of a competition. Before that, at various times she worked for the ICTV, Espreso, 112 Ukraine and Inter television channels. She also collaborated with The New York Times and Politico. While working as spokesperson, she became involved in various, sometimes scandalous, situations several times, in particular because of her social media posts and her conduct toward certain journalists. Zelenskyy dismissed Mendel from her position on 9th July 2021.
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