Daniel Stecher

So, I am being accused of treason. Here is why. Yesterday, Zelenskyy visited the German Bundestag and apparently learned that I was scheduled to speak here today. Immediately after his visit, the Security Service of Ukraine and the Prosecutor General’s Office announced in the media that I was suspected of treason. The same thing happened a month and a half ago, when Zelenskyy personally imposed sanctions on me as soon as he learned that I was going to address the European Parliament. Now, take a closer look: the traitor is not Yermak, who faces allegations of laundering $10 million. Not Mindich or Halushchenko, who are suspected of laundering more than $100 million. The traitor is Mendel, who has not stolen a single penny. Do you know what this treason case is being fabricated for? For speaking about you, the Ukrainian people. About how tired you are of corruption and war, how you struggle with poverty and are forced to survive under coercive mobilization, about the horrors at the front and the torture inflicted by the recruitment centers. That is what this treason case is being fabricated for. This is a clear sign of Zelenskyy’s weakness and his fear of words. He is afraid of his own former press secretary. And that only confirms that I am doing the right thing. Stay tuned for my speech at the Bundestag today. For, as Christ said: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.”

My interview with @berlinerzeitung today in Berlin. You can read the article here: 👇berliner-zeitung.de/article/… Julija Mendel in an Interview: “Zelenskyy Does Not Want the War to End” Mendel was once the spokesperson for Ukraine’s president. Now she faces the prospect of life imprisonment. She speaks out against her former boss and the EU. An interview in Berlin. We spoke with Julija Mendel in Berlin-Mitte. Ukraine’s former presidential spokesperson now faces the possibility of life imprisonment. The war in Ukraine continues unabated, but recently there has been at least one small glimmer of hope. In the frontline city of Oleshky, an agreed ceasefire is holding, humanitarian aid is arriving, and people are taking the opportunity to reach safety. The White House announced the ceasefire, which is limited to the town of Oleshky. Whether it will lead to anything more remains to be seen. Ahead of new talks between Russia and Ukraine on ending the war, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Berlin on Tuesday. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz insisted that the Ukrainian president must have a seat at the table whenever Ukraine is discussed. For Julija Mendel, Zelenskyy’s former spokesperson, it was also a consequential day. Mendel served as the president’s spokesperson from 2019 to 2021 and is now one of his fiercest critics. In September, Zelenskyy imposed sanctions on her by decree. On Wednesday, Ukrainian law enforcement authorities announced that she had officially become a suspect in a high treason case. Under martial law, the charge carries a possible sentence of life imprisonment in Ukraine. We met Mendel in Berlin-Mitte and spoke with her about corruption within the president’s circle, mobilization, Europe’s role, and how this war can end. Ms. Mendel, when someone abroad asks you how things are back home, what do you actually tell them? That in my country, telling the truth is no longer fashionable. People talk in their kitchens about what they really think and the reality they are forced to endure. And then there is the state propaganda, which is extremely optimistic and completely detached from reality. I know that Volodymyr Zelenskyy hates negativity. We have an information system that is tightly controlled from the top. On Tuesday, your former boss, President Zelenskyy, was here in Berlin and met with Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Exactly. Zelenskyy met with Merz and learned that I was scheduled to deliver a speech in the Bundestag the following day. That same day, his law enforcement agencies announced that I was officially suspected of high treason. The reason is my interviews and social media posts — in other words, the fact that I tell the truth about the country’s demographic, social, economic, and military situation. A month and a half earlier, he had personally imposed sanctions on me to prevent me from speaking at the European Parliament. How bad is the situation in Ukraine? Very bad in every respect. I never imagined we would find ourselves in such a state. This war has torn my country apart. The claim is that anyone who criticizes Zelenskyy is on Putin’s side. That is not true. Ukraine is being destroyed by both of them: by Putin’s massive war and by Zelenskyy’s authoritarian regime. After the latest developments, I am no longer afraid to use the word “regime.” Let’s start with the economy. We do not have a functioning economy. It is no exaggeration to say that corruption has become the foundation of the Ukrainian economy. Even a person’s life can depend on whether they can afford to pay the conscription officers who seize men on the streets. The so-called “busification” — the forcible recruitment of men. Yes. Men are being forced to pay $15,000, $20,000, or even $30,000. Members of parliament have made these figures public themselves. This is no news to Ukrainians. My husband, who was once economy minister, calculated that this corruption could amount to around five billion euros a year. It is difficult to believe that something on this scale is happening only at the lower levels. What does this mean for the frontline? A war of attrition depends entirely on the economy. According to the World Bank, the poverty rate has risen from 25 percent before the full-scale invasion to more than 41 percent. Between 10 and 12 million pensioners live on $80 to $160 a month. Russia is destroying not only the energy infrastructure but also warehouses and pharmaceutical factories. Small businesses are closing because they can no longer keep going. Many soldiers used to rely on donations from ordinary people, but people can barely afford to donate anymore. We hear about hundreds of billions flowing into the country, yet we see soldiers without uniforms, without water, without weapons. And what about the population? The demographic situation has suffered enormously. Today, there are four deaths for every birth; last year, there were three. Women do not want to have children in a country where there is not even a reliable electricity supply, where water problems persist, and where there are too few doctors. Estimates suggest that only 20 to 28 million people remain in the country, compared with 52 million in 1991. Around half of them are pensioners or people with disabilities. If there are four million men of conscription age, that would already be a generous estimate. Russia has ten times as many. You speak of a state in decline. What makes you say that? Just consider two cases from the past few days. Last week, a 49-year-old man tried to leave the country by swimming across a river. Border guards tried to kill him — first by striking him with an oar from a boat, and then with the boat’s propeller. Yesterday, a torture chamber was discovered in the Kyiv region, holding several dozen men. The youngest was 14. Zelenskyy’s chief of staff said at the scene that there were many such torture chambers across the country. I do not know what he meant by that. Ukraine has become an autocracy, if not a dictatorship. Many Ukrainians are now asking themselves: What are we fighting for? What is the strategy of Zelenskyy’s team, his advisers, and his chief of staff? Ukraine is now a country governed by one man. The institutions are primarily trying to preserve the regime because they benefit from it. Zelenskyy, his inner circle, loyalists, and propagandists have been in power for seven and a half years, with extremely generous budgets. They themselves hardly suffer at all. Many have made a great deal of money from this war and from the blood of other people. The strategy is to remain in power for as long as possible. How long can this continue? They seem to believe it can go on forever. When I joined the Presidential Office in 2019, people there used to say: “We have come to stay forever.” Zelenskyy himself never said it, but it came from his closest circle, so I assume he thought the same way. And I get the impression he still believes it. But every war ends. And when this one does, his leadership will end too, because there will be elections — and he cannot win them. On the one hand, you describe a man who is becoming increasingly powerful. On the other, cracks are appearing in the wall. Since Yermak’s downfall, corruption investigations have been launched against many people in his circle — but not against Yermak himself. How do you reconcile these things? This war is extremely profitable for that inner circle, so they want to stay in power for as long as they can. The people who sacrifice their lives, families, and homes do not agree with that. And look at me: I am sitting here, sanctioned by Zelenskyy for ten years. Now I am being accused of high treason over an interview and social media posts — a charge that could carry a life sentence. There is no corruption investigation against me, no charges, no suspicion of corruption whatsoever. You are one of the very few Ukrainian citizens in this position, correct? No. More than 1,000 Ukrainians have been sanctioned by their own government, including, this year, Zelenskyy’s first chief of staff, Andriy Bohdan. Yet he was the one who initially proposed Zelenskyy as a presidential candidate. Without Bohdan, Zelenskyy would never have become president. And how do the authorities treat people from Zelenskyy’s own circle? Look at the contrast. Mindich, Zelenskyy’s longtime business partner, is implicated in a money-laundering case involving more than $100 million. He was sanctioned for three years under pressure from public outrage. So, in two years, he will be able to return to his apartment with its golden toilet. Three years for more than $100 million — and ten years, plus accusations of treason, for someone against whom there is not a single allegation of corruption. That tells you a great deal about the selective justice system under Zelenskyy. How close are these people to the president? The energy minister and Yermak have also been accused of money laundering. Both were released from custody after paying substantial sums. These are Zelenskyy’s closest associates; they spend holidays together with their families. There are no allegations against Zelenskyy himself because, as president, he enjoys immunity. Once he leaves office, there could be recordings, evidence, and revelations about bank accounts. That is another reason why he does not want the war to end. What role does the defence company Fire Point play? I know for certain that another very important person from Zelenskyy’s circle will face charges this year. This person was wiretapped together with Mindich while they were discussing the transfer of one billion euros in European taxpayers’ money to Fire Point — a company controlled by Mindich and promoted by Zelenskyy everywhere he goes. I believe billions have flowed to Fire Point.