Russian propaganda fakes front pages of global media outlets about Zelensky after Mendel interview
Propagandists are attempting to discredit President Volodymyr Zelensky before an international audience
Disinformation is spreading on social media about alleged new front pages of several international media outlets featuring quotes from an interview given by Zelensky’s former press secretary Yuliia Mendel to American pro-Russian blogger Tucker Carlson.
In particular, Russian bloggers on Telegram, as well as accounts on X and Facebook, have circulated screenshots of supposed front pages from Germany’s Bild, Britain’s Liverpool Echo, Portugal’s Público, France’s Ouest-France, and Israel’s The Jerusalem Post. These fake covers contain headlines with unflattering quotes allegedly attributed to Mendel about Volodymyr Zelensky, including claims about his supposed “drug addiction.” This is one of the recurring fake narratives used by Russian propaganda as part of its disinformation campaign against the Ukrainian President.
This is false. None of the listed publications released covers mentioning Mendel’s interview or containing her quotes about Zelensky.
On the authentic front page of the May 12 edition of Bild, instead of the fake headline about the Ukrainian President, there was actually a teaser for an article citing German Finance Ministry data on average household income. This indicates that propagandists likely used graphic editing software to forge the newspaper’s cover.
In the case of the Liverpool Echo dated May 12, propagandists replaced the original teaser about a child rescue story with an image of Mendel and the fake headline: “It is no secret that he is a drug addict.”
On the real front page of Público, there was actually a teaser about British Prime Minister Keir Starmer rather than any mention of the Ukrainian President.
Journalists from the publication also noticed the Russian disinformation campaign and publicly debunked it.
Likewise, the authentic cover of Ouest-France issue No. 24945 from May 12 did not feature Mendel’s interview or the fabricated headline “Goebbels on Cocaine,” but rather coverage of hantavirus cases in France.
In The Jerusalem Post, whose May 12 cover was also forged by propagandists, the main story was in fact a major investigation into sexual crimes committed by militants of the terrorist group Hamas. This was confirmed by the newspaper’s editor-in-chief Zvika Klein.
It should be noted that Yuliia Mendel served as press secretary to President Volodymyr Zelensky from 2019 to 2021. In her interview with Tucker Carlson, she claimed, among other things, that during negotiations in Istanbul in 2022, Ukraine had allegedly been prepared to give up Donbas.
Later, Dmytro Lytvyn, communications adviser to President Zelensky denied this claim. Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk also stressed that President Zelensky had never considered surrendering Ukrainian people or territory as a path to peace.
For his part, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described Mendel’s interview as “lies and manipulation directed against Ukraine’s interests and in support of Russian demands and ultimatums.”
Mendel made her statements on the platform of far-right American blogger Tucker Carlson, known for his consistently anti-Ukrainian rhetoric, justification of Russian aggression, and sharp criticism of military aid to Ukraine. Carlson has repeatedly visited Russia, where he recorded a lengthy favorable interview with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and “Russian world” ideologue Alexander Dugin.
Russian propagandists frequently create and spread fake covers of well-known foreign publications. Previous fabrications have included forged covers of the German magazine Titanic, the French publications Courrier International and Franc-Tireur, the Indian weekly Ananda Vikatan, the American political satire magazine Humor Times, and the Spanish satirical magazine El Jueves, among others.
By using fake covers of Western media outlets, Russian propaganda seeks to create the illusion of international resonance around Mendel’s statements and legitimize narratives favorable to the Kremlin.
As previously reported by Ukrinform, Russian propaganda earlier spread a fake claim about the alleged downing of a Saab-340 aircraft by a Russian Su-57 fighter over Ukraine.
By Andrii Olenin