Iona is based in New York City. Since joining The Telegraph in 2024, she has covered major international stories, including the Russia-Ukraine war, conflicts in the Middle East and US politics 6:30am BST She stood at Volodymyr Zelensky’s side for two years as one of his closest aides. She wrote a book crediting him with bringing hope to Ukraine and giving her a voice.

The radical shift in Ms Mendel’s views and her claims, which range from vindictive to outright outlandish, have led to suspicions among Ukrainian officials and opposition MPs that she is a Russian agent.

She dismissed the idea that she was a traitor as “ridiculous”, telling The Telegraph: “I have no connections to Russia.”Mendel has gone from one of Zelensky’s closest aides to one of his most outspoken critics It is a striking arc. A Zelensky loyalist turned persona non grata, she is now busy courting Right-wing fringe influencers in the US and Germany’s far Right who spout pro-Kremlin rhetoric.

Her social media and recent interviews are also littered with unsubstantiated allegations about Mr Zelensky’s drug use (vehemently denied by the Ukrainian president), his illegal profiteering from the war and that his former chief of staff is involved in satanic magic.

As well as allegations of Russian allegiance, Ukrainian critics accuse her of working with figures aligned with the Maga movement and Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) to erode US and European military and financial support for Ukraine.

In September, Mr Zelensky imposed aggressive sanctions on her for spreading “disinformation and Russian propaganda” and supporting “Russia’s aggressive policy against Ukraine”.

Ms Mendel, 40, said she expected treason charges would come next, but intends to fight back with legal action.

Speaking to The Telegraph, she accused Mr Zelensky of trying to silence anyone “he considers either disloyal or critical”.

Blame game In a lengthy interview, although she acknowledged that Vladimir Putin clearly started the war, her criticism was almost exclusively reserved for his Ukrainian counterpart.

“I think Zelensky holds the same responsibility for this war as Putin,” Ms Mendel claimed. Challenged on this, she corrected herself: “Maybe 60/40, Zelensky 40 [per cent] and Putin 60 [per cent].”Such rhetoric – that Ukraine and its leaders are to blame for the war – is a signature part of the Kremlin’s disinformation campaign to undermine Western support for Kyiv.

A spokesman for Mr Zelensky’s office said Ms Mendel “has never had access to information about the war or how decisions are made in the President’s Office”.

“Her statements reflect only her own fantasies and the interests of those who pay her living expenses in America and Europe,” he added.

A radical shift Ms Mendel grew up in Kherson – a front-line region now heavily scarred by Russian attacks and partially occupied.

She worked as a journalist before being hand-picked to join Mr Zelensky’s office at just 32.

She now lives in the US with her husband Pavlo Kukhta, a former Ukrainian deputy economics minister.

A scene of destruction in war-torn Oleshky, Kherson, last month In her 2022 book The Fight for Our Lives, she wrote an admiring portrayal of Mr Zelensky as “a breath of fresh air” and cast the war as an existential fight for Ukraine’s survival, writing “Russia’s intentions were clear: to wipe Ukraine off the map.”

But now, she claims: “The conditions of war have changed, the consequences of the war have changed.”Ms Mendel resigned as Mr Zelensky’s spokesman in 2021, almost 10 months before Russia’s invasion. She initially said it was for health reasons, but now states it was in response to her employer’s “erratic” behaviour. “He was really not behaving as a leader should if he wanted to maintain this very fragile balance of peace,” she claims.

Mr Zelensky’s office strongly denied this, saying she left “because she was emotionally unstable and in constant conflicts with journalists”. In 2019, she was heavily criticised for shoving a journalist to prevent him from asking Mr Zelensky a question. Ms Mendel claimed she was defending his “personal space”.

Ukraine’s war effort continues, with Zelensky showing no appetite to surrender territory to Russia Along with Donald Trump, she has described Mr Zelensky as a “dictator”.

She walked back that designation in the interview, instead choosing the term “autocrat”. “Perhaps I was too strong,” she conceded, “but definitely the problem is there is no democracy anymore.”She is deeply critical of Mr Zelensky’s refusal to hold elections during wartime. Ukraine’s constitution forbids such elections under martial law, which was declared when Russia launched its invasion in 2022.

Nor does she mention that since early 2025, Mr Zelensky has repeatedly proposed ceasefires and talks with Putin, which have been turned down or countered with maximalist demands for territorial concessions.

Putin continues to demand that Ukraine surrender the entirety of its eastern region of the Donbas along with other territories that Russia only partially controls. He has also ruled out any Nato troops being deployed to protect Ukraine’s post-war borders.

In a highly criticised interview with Tucker Carlson, the conservative commentator, in May, she claimed – without evidence – that Mr Zelensky told the Kremlin in 2022 he would be willing to give up the Donbas. In the same interview, she alleged that Andriy Yermak, Mr Zelensky’s chief of staff until November, practised black magic.

“He was the right platform to be heard, and I know that I was heard,” she said of Carlson’s YouTube show. Asked by whom, she added: “By politicians and the White House.”Mr Trump said in an interview with Newsmax that he had seen an interview with a young Ukrainian woman who said that Mr Zelensky had destroyed Ukraine. It was not clear whether Mr Trump was talking about Ms Mendel.

Carlson publicly broke with former ally Mr Trump early this year over his opposition to the US and Israeli war against Iran.

Mendel being interviewed by the US conservative commentator Tucker Carlson Mr Zelensky has consistently advocated a “just peace” that does not sacrifice Ukraine’s sovereignty or independence, along with strong security guarantees from the US and Europe and a path to Nato.

Instead, Ms Mendel – who calls herself “a realist” – says Ukraine must prepare itself to surrender the Donbas and other territory and give up on its hopes of joining Nato. “We cannot keep dying [in this war] for the very hypothetical idea of entering Nato,” she says.

Ms Mendel’s critiques of Ukraine’s government and Western allies often echo or align with pro-Kremlin arguments. She claims she has “enormous support” from inside Ukraine.

It is true that trust and support for Mr Zelensky at home has been waning. Some 53 per cent of Ukrainians think he should not run for a second term.

However, 42 per cent think he should, according to a poll published by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) on Oct 5.

A growing majority of Ukrainians also favour democracy over continuing the war, but are divided over the conditions of peace they would accept.

A poll this month by Ukraine-based Rating Group revealed 62 per cent believed that neither Ukraine nor Russia was winning the war.

Some 35 per cent opposed territorial concessions in exchange for long-term peace, while 56 per cent would support concessions if accompanied by strong security guarantees from Western allies.

Mr Zelensky states that his government has no constitutional, legal or moral right to give away Ukraine’s land. Ukraine’s European partners have also strongly rejected such proposals.

Ms Mendel also criticised Western leaders for not engaging with Putin, and commended the AfD’s intention to reset Berlin’s relations with Moscow. She did not indicate outright support for the populist, pro-Russia party but said they should take a role in peace efforts. “[Friedrich] Merz doesn’t talk to Putin… the AfD wants to talk to Putin.”Ukraine should engage with Putin, according to Mendel Ms Mendel was scheduled to speak at the European Parliament in Strasbourg at an event organised by the AfD in September called Dare to Make Peace – Diplomacy, Not Escalation. She was barred from entering, which she blamed on Ukraine’s sanctions against her.

Ms Mendel denied allegations that she was being paid by or coordinating her views with “any political forces”.

Instead, she said she was “open to dialogue” with all groups, including the AfD and Trump administration, and was “glad there are political forces in the West whose vision of the situation in Ukraine coincides with mine”. Many inside and outside Ukraine fundamentally disagree with Ms Mendel’s views.

Dismissing the criticism, she claimed “the road to peace is not easy...[It] will be very controversial, very difficult, full of accusations, criticisms... But the most important thing is to walk this road.”