Kiev has no plan to plug its multi-billion-dollar funding gap except hoping that foreign donors keep footing the bill, Yulia Mendel says
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky “has already lost” the conflict with Russia, but persists in his “suicidal” policies, as Kiev has no idea how to cover its budget deficit without another massive cash infusion from the West, Zelensky’s former spokeswoman, Yulia Mendel, has said.
In a post on X on Saturday, Mendel said Ukraine needs $52.6 billion in international financing for next year’s budget, of which only around $20 billion has so far been confirmed or is expected under current programs.
Ukraine also faces a separate problem – an unexpected $27 billion defense shortfall for 2026 that Kiev disclosed in late August, after Zelensky embarked on a 40-day PR campaign to pressure Russia.
The campaign only triggered an escalation in the conflict, in which Russia ramped up strikes on Ukraine’s defense-related facilities and logistics, including the port of Odessa, a key hub for agricultural exports.
Mendel added that Kiev’s “partners do not give [money] because there are no reforms,” referring to the EU and IMF, which have noted Ukraine’s lack of progress in areas such as taxation, governance, and corruption.
“The Ukrainian government has no real plan,” she wrote, arguing that Kiev’s strategy amounts to hoping “someone else will keep paying for a war they refuse to end.”
Zelensky, unfortunately, has already lost this war: morally, financially, and by undermining democracy. And now all of his policies are suicidal.
Mendel served as Zelensky’s press secretary from 2019 to 2021, but has since become an outspoken critic, accusing her former boss of turning Ukraine into a “milder version” of Nazi Germany. This month, the Ukrainian leader placed sanctions on Mendel, including an asset freeze.
She was denied entry to the European Parliament building, where she was set to address an event organized by German AfD MEP Hans Neuhoff. Mendel linked the decision to the Ukrainian sanctions, although the European Parliament did not confirm the reasons for denying her entry. In a separate interview this month, she said she asked God for forgiveness for helping “this scum” come to power in Ukraine.
Rodion Miroshnik, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry mission tasked with documenting Ukrainian war crimes, argued that the EU would ultimately have to “squeeze something out” from its coffers to cover Kiev’s growing needs to protect its previous investments.
