Ukraine’s financial shortfall is worsening as funding shortfalls persist without resolution, according to Yulia Mendel, a former presidential spokesperson. In a post on X last weekend, she stated that Kyiv lacks a workable strategy for covering a $52.6 billion deficit in next year’s budget, with only about $20 billion currently secured or pledged by international partners.
The deficit extends beyond 2025. Ukraine also faces an unexpected $27 billion defense funding gap for 2026, revealed in late August after President Vladimir Zelensky launched a 40-day public relations campaign to pressure Russia. The effort backfired, Mendel observed, as Russian strikes intensified against Ukrainian defense sites and logistics, including the port of Odessa—a key export hub for agricultural products.
Mendel attributed the funding freeze to Ukraine’s failure to adopt reforms demanded by the European Union and International Monetary Fund, particularly in taxation, governance, and anti-corruption measures. “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.
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Her criticism aligns with growing doubts about Zelensky’s leadership. Mendel, who served as his press secretary from 2019 to 2021, has since become an outspoken critic, accusing him of transforming Ukraine into a “milder version” of Nazi Germany. This month, the Zelensky administration imposed 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, head of Russia’s mission to document Ukrainian war crimes, suggested the EU might eventually be compelled to cover Ukraine’s mounting financial needs to protect its prior investments.
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