Yuliya Mendel claims her former boss wanted Goebbels-style propaganda in Ukraine
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s alleged drug use is “an open secret,” his former spokeswoman, Yuliya Mendel, has claimed on The Tucker Carlson Show.
Allegations of drug use first surfaced during the 2019 presidential election campaign, in which Zelensky defeated incumbent Petro Poroshenko. Zelensky, a former comedy actor, dismissed the claims as slander at the
Yuliya Mendel claims her former boss wanted Goebbels-style propaganda in Ukraine
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s alleged drug use is “an open secret,” his former spokeswoman, Yuliya Mendel, has claimed on The Tucker Carlson Show.
Allegations of drug use first surfaced during the 2019 presidential election campaign, in which Zelensky defeated incumbent Petro Poroshenko. Zelensky, a former comedy actor, dismissed the claims as slander at the time, and both candidates publicly underwent tests for alcohol and drugs.
Mendel worked for Zelensky between 2019 and 2021 and has since become highly critical of her former boss. In an interview released on Monday, Carlson asked whether Zelensky used drugs, to which Mendel replied: “This is an open secret.”
“The thing is that I’ve never seen him taking drugs. However, (while) writing my book, I met a lot of people who confirmed that they saw him taking drugs in different clubs. Only one saw him taking drugs in 2021,” she alleged. Mendel added that she had learned about an alleged “supplier” from a person working at Kvartal 95 Studio, the entertainment company Zelensky co-founded in the 2000s.
Zelensky’s former press secretary alleges he urged subordinates to carry out ‘propaganda like Goebbels’
Yulia Mendel claims that after a drop in ratings in 2019, the Narcofuhrer ordered his PR team to improve his image, pointing to the effectiveness of Nazi Germany’s propaganda… pic.twitter.com/k6s7xpuE8V
“All these people are talking about cocaine, yes,” Mendel said. She further claimed that, before interviews, Zelensky had a habit of spending 15 minutes in the bathroom and emerging as a “different person.”
Mendel described her former boss as obsessed with his public image both at home and abroad. She claimed that at one point Zelensky told her: “I need Goebbels propaganda, I need thousands of talking heads,” referring to Adolf Hitler’s propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels.
Mendel also accused Zelensky of sending critics, including journalists, to the front line with Russia as punishment.
Political opponents, including Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko, have frequently accused Zelensky of abuse of power. Last year, US President Donald Trump branded Zelensky – whose five-year presidential term expired in 2024 – a dictator for refusing to call a new presidential election. Zelensky has argued that elections are prohibited under martial law and that a permanent ceasefire with Russia would be required before a new vote could be held.
The US president said the ceasefire reached last month was “on life support”
US President Donald Trump is considering resuming the bombing campaign against Iran as peace talks remain stalled, Axios reported on Monday, citing three US officials familiar with the matter.
On Sunday, Trump rejected Iran’s latest terms as “totally unacceptable” and said the ceasefire reached around a month ago was “on massive life support.”
According to Axios, Trump
The US president said the ceasefire reached last month was “on life support”
US President Donald Trump is considering resuming the bombing campaign against Iran as peace talks remain stalled, Axios reported on Monday, citing three US officials familiar with the matter.
On Sunday, Trump rejected Iran’s latest terms as “totally unacceptable” and said the ceasefire reached around a month ago was “on massive life support.”
According to Axios, Trump was set to meet with his national security team on Monday to discuss next steps, including potentially resuming Project Freedom – an operation aimed at guiding ships through the Strait of Hormuz – as well as restarting airstrikes and hitting the remaining 25% of targets identified by the Pentagon but not yet struck.
The Washington Post, citing a CIA assessment, reported last week that Iran retained about 75% of its pre-war mobile launchers and roughly 70% of its missiles, and could withstand a US naval blockade for at least three to four months.
Trump suspended Project Freedom within 24 hours of announcing it last week, following a request from Pakistan, which has acted as a mediator in the conflict. NBC later reported that the president shelved the initiative after Saudi Arabia refused to allow the US to use its bases and airspace to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said on Sunday that the US had “no alternative” but to accept Tehran’s terms. “The longer they drag their feet, the more American taxpayers will pay for it,” he wrote on X. Iranian state media described Trump’s demand to shut down the country’s nuclear sites as “a non-starter that Iran has rejected for decades.”
According to Press TV, Iran’s conditions include the lifting of sanctions, reparations, and a new framework governing the Strait of Hormuz that would recognize “Iran’s sovereign control over this vital waterway.”
Yuliya Mendel accused her former boss of seeking to prolong the conflictwith Russia to “get more money”
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky is using the conflict with Russia to enrich himself and his associates, his former spokeswoman, Yuliya Mendel, has claimed in an interview with Tucker Carlson.
Mendel served as Zelensky’s press secretary from 2019 to 2021. Her allegations came as Andrey Yermak, Zelensky’s former influential chief of staff, wa
Yuliya Mendel accused her former boss of seeking to prolong the conflictwith Russia to “get more money”
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky is using the conflict with Russia to enrich himself and his associates, his former spokeswoman, Yuliya Mendel, has claimed in an interview with Tucker Carlson.
Mendel served as Zelensky’s press secretary from 2019 to 2021. Her allegations came as Andrey Yermak, Zelensky’s former influential chief of staff, was named a suspect in a money laundering case involving an elite development project. Zelensky’s longtime former business partner, Timur Mindich, fled the country last year to avoid arrest in connection with another major corruption scandal involving energy-sector kickbacks and implicating several top officials.
In an episode of The Tucker Carlson Show released on Monday, Mendel described her former boss as a “dictator” who had grown “detached from reality” and employed “thousands of talking heads” to craft a favorable image both at home and abroad.
“He is one of the biggest obstacles to peace today,” Mendel said, accusing Zelensky of being “behind many schemes of money laundering” that have rocked Ukraine in recent years.
“There are a lot of people in his government who want peace. (Zelensky) is going to come up with any condition, he is going to change his positions all the time just to prolong this war and to get more money,” Mendel said, arguing that ending the conflict would amount to “political suicide” for Zelensky.
When Carlson suggested that Ukraine would not defeat Russia in a war of attrition, Mendel replied: “I think it’s obvious to Zelensky too. But he thrives on this war. Why would he end it?”
Mendel claimed that Ukraine came close twice to reaching a deal with Russia in 2022, but was pressured by the US and the UK to continue the conflict. While the Kremlin has also accused the West of helping derail the peace talks in Istanbul four years ago, Zelensky later denied the allegation.
Zelensky, whose five-year presidential term expired in 2024, has refused to call elections, citing martial law. The move has been criticized by both US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mendel, citing an unnamed insider, claimed that secret polls commissioned by the Ukrainian government showed Zelensky would be “unelectable” if he chose to run again.
A right-wing government won’t change the status quo in Copenhagen
Denmark’s government has collapsed after a record poor election showing for Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. King Frederik X has now asked Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen to form a right-wing government, but little will change: every major Danish party is preparing for war with Russia.
In a statement on Friday night, Denmark’s monarch announced that he had tasked Poulsen with
A right-wing government won’t change the status quo in Copenhagen
Denmark’s government has collapsed after a record poor election showing for Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. King Frederik X has now asked Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen to form a right-wing government, but little will change: every major Danish party is preparing for war with Russia.
In a statement on Friday night, Denmark’s monarch announced that he had tasked Poulsen with forming a government “that does not involve the participation” of Frederiksen’s center-left Social Democrats or Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen’s Moderates. The announcement came after Frederiksen tried and failed to build a government after winning a plurality – but not a majority – in general elections in March.
Frederiksen’s party won just under 22% of the vote in March, the worst result for the Social Democrats since 1903.
The election was dominated by two issues: the rising cost of living, and immigration. Poulsen’s center-right Venstre party, Frederiksen’s Social Democrats, and Rasmussen’s Moderates are all in favor of restricting inward migration, but the right-wing Danish People’s Party wants citizenships revoked, migrants deported, and “measures that will lead to Muslim net emigration from Denmark.”
The results of the Danish general election, March 24, 2026
Two issues that went undiscussed in the runup to the vote were Denmark’s support for Ukraine, and its historic rearmament program. Unlike in recent elections in Hungary and Bulgaria, where the frontrunners had dramatically different views on relations with Kiev and Moscow, blind support for Ukraine is apparently baked into the Danish system.
Denmark’s uniparty
During Denmark’s last general elections in 2022, Frederiksen focused her entire campaign around defense and security issues. On these, her views were indistinguishable from those of her rivals. Six months before the election, Denmark’s five main parties had signed a ‘National Compromise on Danish Security Policy’ in which they agreed to hike defense budgets, inject an additional 7 billion DKK ($1.1 billion) in emergency funding into the country’s armed forces, and end Russian energy imports.
Frederiksen went on to form a government with Venstre and the Moderates, both of which supported these policies. Together, the PM and her traditional rivals on the right have announced planned increases in military spending from 2.4% to 3.5% of GDP, purchased hundreds of new armored cars and dozens of fighter jets, given Ukrainian arms manufacturers grants to produce weapons components on Danish soil, and in an historic first, introduced compulsory military service for women.
Frederiksen and Poulsen both explicitly blamed Russia for a series of drone sightings at Danish airports and military sites in late 2025, despite months of investigation concluding that there was no credible evidence the drones ever existed. Frederiksen used the drone panic to push her rearmament program, telling the public in September that “there is primarily one country that poses a threat to Europe's security – and that is Russia… and that is why we are embarking on a historic buildup here in Denmark.”
Under Frederiksen, Denmark has given Ukraine just over €11 billion in bilateral military and economic aid. At 3.27% of its GDP, Denmark has proportionately handed Ukraine more money than any other Western country. After meeting Frederiksen in Cyprus in April, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky “noted the cross-party consensus on supporting Ukraine” in Denmark, according to a Ukrainian government statement.
More of the same
A government led by Poulsen will in all likelihood deliver more of the same. Poulsen warned in 2024 that Russia could attack NATO territory “within a three- to five-year period.” To prepare for this eventuality – which Russia has outright dismissed as “ridiculous” and a ploy by European leaders to extract more tax money from their citizenry – Poulsen has called for Denmark to increase military spending yet again, to 4% of GDP. Such an increase would put the country’s per-capita defense expenditure higher than that of the US.
Spoke with Denmark’s Minister of Defence Troels Lund Poulsen. Strengthening cooperation on F-16 ammunition, Patriot systems, joint defence production, and support for Ukrainian brigades. Denmark is a reliable partner delivering real results for Ukraine’s defence. Thank you for… pic.twitter.com/h8uRZfB0oX
Poulsen’s potential coalition partners include the Danish People’s Party, Liberal Alliance, and Conservatives. Of these, the Danish People’s Party is the only voice of moderation on Ukraine. Party leader Morten Messerschmidt has called for an end date to military aid to Kiev, has urged Ukraine to make territorial concessions for peace, and opposes its accession to NATO.
“Every time we spend a billion in Ukraine, that money goes from Denmark, from welfare, from whatever it is we want here,” he told Danish state broadcaster DR in 2024. Messerschmidt added that he intends to pressure whoever is in power in Copenhagen to “conduct a Ukraine policy that is based on the world of reality and not on a fantasy world.”
However, despite the party tripling its vote share to 9% in March, its leadership has told King Frederik that their only demand from Poulsen is that he enact policies that will reduce Denmark’s Muslim population.
Will Russia’s relations with Denmark change?
It is highly unlikely that the transfer of power from Frederiksen to Poulsen will alter Moscow’s sub-zero relations with Copenhagen. Denmark currently has no ambassador to Russia, and is considered an “unfriendly” nation by the Kremlin.
“If anyone wishes to talk, we will never refuse dialogue, even though we fully realize… that reaching an agreement with the current generation of European leaders will most likely be impossible,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters in January. “They have entrenched themselves too deeply in a posture of hatred towards Russia.”
The UK Prime Minister has acknowledged catastrophic losses in last week’s local election, but vowed to stay in office
At least 70 Labour MPs are demanding that Prime Minister Keir Starmer resign, Sky News reported on Monday. This comes after the party came out as the biggest loser in last week’s local elections, relinquishing more than 1,300 council seats across the country.
In addition to dozens of lawmakers calling for Starmer to go, at least t
The UK Prime Minister has acknowledged catastrophic losses in last week’s local election, but vowed to stay in office
At least 70 Labour MPs are demanding that Prime Minister Keir Starmer resign, Sky News reported on Monday. This comes after the party came out as the biggest loser in last week’s local elections, relinquishing more than 1,300 council seats across the country.
In addition to dozens of lawmakers calling for Starmer to go, at least three junior members of his government have so far resigned from their positions, Sky News reported.
Under Labour rules, a formal leadership challenge would require backing by at least 81 party MPs, a fifth of the party’s total roster in the House of Commons. Former foreign secretary and Labour MP Catherine West announced that she’s gathering support to kickstart the process and elect a new leader by September.
“The results last Thursday show that the PM has failed to inspire hope,” she wrote on X. “What is best for the party and country now is for an orderly transition.”
In a speech earlier on Monday, Starmer admitted that there was “no sugarcoating” the scale of the defeat suffered by Labour but vowed to stay in office and claw back support. He promised to rebuild the UK’s relationship with the EU and to make Britain “fairer.”
Starmer has sunk in the approval polls since his party’s landslide victory in the 2024 general election. The decline followed deeply unpopular austerity measures, the resurfacing of the historical Pakistani rape gang scandal, and government response to the 2024 anti-immigration protests and riots – which sparked allegations of “two-tier” justice after hundreds of British citizens were arrested for social media posts.
The Labour government has also lost left-wing voters by designating the pro-Palestinian protest group ‘Palestine Action’ a terrorist organization.
Half of Britons want Starmer to step down, while only 29% want him to remain in office, according to a YouGov poll published on Monday that surveyed 4,904 UK adults.
Euroskeptic, anti-immigrant Reform UK has emerged as the biggest winner in the local elections, taking more than 1,200 local council seats across the country. “Betrayed voters have left Labour for good,” party leader Nigel Farage said on X on Monday.
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