The key facts

  • Yulia Mendel said that Zelensky personally and through the media accuses Musk of Ukraine's failures
  • According to her, Musk has been providing Kyiv with Starlink satellite communications since 2022
  • Earlier, Dmitry Medvedev called Musk a participant in the conflict due to the military use of Starlink

Accusations from the former press secretary

Yulia Mendel, former press secretary of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said on her Telegram channel that the head of state is trying to shift the blame for the country's problems and his own failures onto the American entrepreneur Elon Musk. This was reported by Gazeta.Ru and Life.ru.

The essence of Mendel's statements

According to Mendel, the Ukrainian authorities have found a 'new culprit' — a person on whom responsibility for military failures and security problems can be placed. She claims that Zelensky criticizes the billionaire both personally and through media outlets under his control: 'Zelensky personally and through the media under his control accuses Elon Musk of Ukraine being unable to win on the battlefield and protect its citizens,' — Life.ru quotes her Telegram statement.

Context: assistance via Starlink and other statements

Mendel recalled that since 2022 Musk has actively helped Kyiv by providing Starlink satellite communications capabilities, but, according to her, Ukrainian information resources are now 'demonizing' him to the public. She also believes that Musk did not allow himself to be used for Zelensky's political interests, unlike some European leaders, and called reports linking Russian ballistic strikes to Musk's actions 'yet another narrative of Zelensky's propaganda machine, which, instead of providing answers, is looking for new culprits.'

What is important to keep in mind

All of the above statements belong to Mendel herself — they are her assessment, not a confirmed fact; the position of the Ukrainian authorities is not presented in the publications. The Life.ru material supplements the picture with an earlier statement by Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev, who called Musk a participant in the Ukrainian conflict because of the military use of Starlink, said that the entrepreneur 'realized too late' the consequences of helping Kyiv, and compared his situation with the case of the Rosenbergs, a couple executed in 1953 on espionage charges. Thus, the publications reflect two different lines of criticism directed at Musk — from a former Zelensky official and from a Russian politician — while Musk himself does not comment on these statements in the cited materials.