Yulia Mendel

Yulia Mendel is a journalist, PhD in philology, and was press secretary of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy from June 2019 to July 9, 2021.

Born on September 3, 1986, in Henichesk, Kherson region. She worked for the ICTV, Espreso TV and Inter TV channels. She wrote for Ukrainian Forbes and American Politico. For several years she collaborated with The New York Times.

On April 30, 2019, Zelenskyy announced a competition for the post of press secretary of the President of Ukraine. Based on the stated requirements, Zelenskyy's team selected 100 candidates, of whom three finalists remained after a series of tests.

After personal conversations with the president and staff of the Presidential Office, as well as a final exam in the form of an improvised press conference, on June 3 Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed Yulia Mendel as his press secretary.

During her time in office she was involved in several scandals: a statement about Ukrainian military shelling civilian facilities, pushing Schemes journalist Serhii Andrushko, and misspelling the name of the Ukrainian capital.