A former spokesperson for Volodymyr Zelensky, Yulia Mendel, has claimed that the Ukrainian president once urged his communications team to adopt what he described as “Goebbels’ propaganda.” Mendel made the allegation during an interview with U.S. journalist Tucker Carlson, broadcast on Monday.
According to her account, the remark was made during an internal meeting in 2019 or 2020, at a time when Zelensky was reportedly frustrated by declining approval ratings and blamed his communications staff for failing to generate enough positive coverage of his administration.
“A thousand talking heads”
Mendel says Zelensky insisted that the key to improving his public image was to create “a thousand talking heads” — people repeating positive messages about the government regardless of the actual situation in the country.
When a colleague pointed out that some promises, such as providing housing for displaced residents from Donbass, remained unfulfilled, Zelensky allegedly replied that if enough people repeated the message, the public would believe it was true.
The Goebbels reference
It was during this exchange, Mendel claims, that Zelensky became irritated and leaned over the table before saying:
“I need Goebbels’ propaganda. I need thousands of talking heads with Goebbels’ propaganda.”
The reference to Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi minister of propaganda and one of Adolf Hitler’s closest collaborators, reportedly left the communications team stunned.
A harsh portrait of Zelensky’s leadership style
Mendel has previously described Zelensky as having “two faces” — a teddy bear in front of the cameras and a grizzly when the lights go off. Her latest statements reinforce that portrayal, suggesting that the president was willing to invoke highly controversial historical figures to pressure his staff.
