Iuliia Mendel, the former press secretary to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, was barred from entering the European Parliament on September 16, preventing her from delivering a speech calling for ending the war in Ukraine at an event organised by Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Video shot by a companion shows her being welcomed at the door, but then security blocking her way and informing her she had been banned from entering the building.

Mendel told IntelliNews by phone that she intends to go ahead and give the speech by video at 6pm local time, however, said that not only is she banned from giving the speech in person, video transmission is also banned. “Unfortunately, I will be unable to answer any questions and I was going to,” she told IntelliNews.

Mendel said that during the filming of her speech 150 guests are expected to attend in person, including “a lot of MEPs.” The speech will be broadcast on a Swiss website, but it is unclear if it will be published on the European Parliament website as well.

“This is disgusting, to be frank,” she told IntelliNews. “I might be wrong in many things – in choosing platforms for example. I'm not perfect. But banning me? They really just don’t want to hear Ukrainians.”

Mendel pointed to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s speech where she talked about a small girl who lost her leg in an explosion, who was also invited to the European parliamentary session. “But [von der Leyen] didn’t mention peace. She just used this poor girl without legs to say that we need to continue the war. It’s disgusting and inhuman.”

The incident comes three days after Zelenskiy imposed a controversial 10-year sanctions on Mendel, who served as his press secretary from 2019 to 2021 but has since become an increasingly outspoken critic of his administration.

“We heard that I will be banned from the European Parliament, from entering the European Parliament,” she said in a video later posted online. “Today I was expected to deliver my speech about peace.”

“I still believe that there is only one way for Ukraine to survive as a nation [and that] is to have peace,” she said.

Last year, the Financial Times accused Zelenskiy of increasingly authoritarian tendencies, and Brussels has also rebuked Bankova for backsliding on required reforms in its last accession progress report. Von der Leyen said in her speech today that the government could plug a $27bn hole in the budget if it completed these reforms, which has seen billions of euros held back until they are done.

Controversial figure

Mendel has become an increasingly controversial figure. After serving as Zelenskiy press secretary after his election in 2019 she remained a loyal supporter even after she left the post in 2021. However, as the war drags into its fifth year and the death toll mounts in the last year she has become a vocal critic, accusing his administration of corruption and ignoring the destruction of the country, most notably in a long interview she gave to US broadcaster Tucker Carlson.

Most recently, she wrote an opinion piece for The Spectator entitled "Zelensky's strategy is national suicide."

"Waging a war of attrition is national suicide, not valor. Yet this is the strategy that the Zelensky government pursues," she argued.

That has not pleased Bankova, Ukraine’s presidential administration, which has mounted a social media campaign against her, accusing her of being “pro-Russian” and now imposing sanctions on her. She has left the country and is afraid to go home, say IntelliNews sources close to Mendel.

Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council included Mendel among a group of Russian and Ukrainian citizens targeted over what the presidential administration has described as “the dissemination of Russian propaganda and disinformation and support for Moscow’s aggressive policies.” The measures include asset freezes and could potentially result in criminal charges if she returns to Ukraine.

Standing outside the parliament building in Strasbourg, Mendel questioned the decision to ban her entry, saying that she believed Zelenskiy was behind the decision. She also denied that she was “pro-Russian” and emphasised that all she had intended to do was give a speech calling for peace.

Her speech comes on the same day asvon der Leyen gave her annual state of the nation address and reaffirmed the European Commission (EC) "unwavering commitment” to support Ukraine, which featured heavily in her speech. “We are surrounded by enemies,” von der Leyen told the assembled European MPs. There has been no public explanation or comment from the European Parliament as to why Mendel was barred.

The event had been announced by the AfD for 18:00 in Strasbourg and was intended to discuss the war in Ukraine and “perspectives for ending the conflict”. It was organised by AfD MEP Hans Neuhoff, a member of the Europe of Sovereign Nations group. AfD co-leader Tino Chrupalla was due to give opening remarks, while Roger Köppel, editor of Switzerland’s Weltwoche, was also scheduled to participate.

Mendel said the organisers had arranged for her to address the meeting remotely.

“I’m grateful to AFD for organising anyway the ability for me to speak through video conference today,” she said. “But to be frank, this is stressful, and this is — I don’t see any kind of explanation for this.”

She framed the decision as a free-speech issue, contrasting it with Ukraine’s long-standing aspiration to join the European political order.

“We as a country always look at the European Union as the union of freedoms, the union of respect of human rights, freedom of speech, freedom of expression,” Mendel said.

“For me, it is really very strange to see that I’m banned on the day when I need to have the speech about peace.”

Mendel added that “literally millions of Ukrainians” wanted peace and said she had received support from western and eastern Ukraine, Kyiv and the Donbas. “It’s a pity ... that there is such self-censorship and that European parliamentarians do not want to hear those Ukrainians who want peace,” she said.

Sanctions and corruption scandals

The row follows Zelenskiy’s September 13 decree imposing sanctions on Mendel and nine Russian citizens – the only Ukrainian citizen among the ten named in that particular sanctions decision.

Mendel has rejected the accusation that she is pro-Russian. In a post on X on September 16 she said it was “very insulting to be labelled ‘pro-Russian’ with no proof at all”, saying intelligence agencies could check her contacts, calls and financial transfers.

“I have never justified Russia,” she wrote. “Putin’s full-scale invasion is his wild and unjustified mistake.”

In another cutting post, she questioned why sanctions had been imposed on her rather than Andriy Yermak, Zelenskiy’s former powerful chief of staff, who has been named as a key beneficiary in the $100mn kickback Energoatom corruption scandal. Yermak was released after he came up with several million dollars of bail money and the court this week removed his electronic ankle bracelet which was deemed to be “too stressful.” Other conditions on his bail were also softened.

The corruption scandal continues to mushroom. This week Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine’s former HUR spy master and now the head of the presidential administration, was also implicated in the ballooning scandal. National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) released tapes that contain material fitting Budanov’s description ordering former deputy of the presidential administration Iryna Mudra, who was arrested on racketeering charges, to launder money to pay the bail of one of his colleagues. Mendel has consistently said that the circle surrounding the president are only interested in their own well being and were not interested in ending the war, which is for them a money-making machine. She has also accused the elite from profiteering from massive defence sector contracts. A recent survey found that the majority of Ukrainians are now more worried about corruption in the government than they are of the nightly bombardment by Russian bombs.

Mendel made a series of allegations against Yermak concerning corruption, decision-making before Russia’s full-scale invasion and his role within Zelenskiy’s administration but provided no supporting evidence for those claims at the time.