Mendel structured her interview around a classic propaganda formula: 80% truth and 20% lies - the lies she actually wants to push. When she tells the truth, the audience begins to trust her because those truthful parts are things we have lived through here in Ukraine and know from our own experience. Unfortunately, once that trust has been established, propagandists can easily exploit it. Mendel, who has been skilled at propaganda since her time working in Ukraine, uses the credibility she gains from the truthful parts of the interview to advance her own ideas. Mendel is an ideological vatnik, and she always has been. Even after entering the service of the president of Ukraine, she never stopped being a vatnik and sincerely despised Ukraine, the Ukrainian language, Ukrainian journalists, and Ukrainian civil society. Her entire work in office was aimed at undermining democracy and establishing authoritarianism. And when she comes out now and unloads on Zelensky, this is not really criticism of Zelensky. It is resentment that he never became a full-fledged dictator like Lukashenko - the kind of leader that vatnik Mendel wanted to see ruling Ukraine. He simply failed to live up to her hopes for a “strong hand” that everyone fears, where people disappear and everyone else keeps quiet so they do not become the next ones. Zelensky’s authoritarianism in economic matters and financial flows turned out not to be brutal enough to satisfy Mendel. So she is taking revenge. Her latest interview was recorded to convince Ukrainians that this is not their war and that they should not resist the Russians. To make people believe her, she told the truth about corruption, Mindich, and then seasoned it with the lie that the war can be ended simply by giving up Donbas. This idea that we should give Russia something so that it will finally leave us alone is very popular among latent vatniks in Ukraine. They are afraid to admit that, in our war for independence, they are effectively on Russia’s side, but they actively promote narratives that benefit Russia. One of those narratives is that Ukraine simply refused to give Russia something it wanted, and that this is supposedly why we have had years of war and Ukrainians continue to be killed. This is a false position, and this is precisely where you cannot listen to people like Mendel. Because the entire history of our war demonstrates that Russia gets what it says it wants and then does not stop. Did Russia want a land corridor to Crimea? It got one. Did it stop? No! Did Russia want to capture Mariupol and gain full control over the Sea of Azov? It captured Mariupol and got that control. Did it stop? No! Did Russia want buffer zones in the Kharkiv and Sumy regions, the nuclear power plant in Enerhodar, Avdiivka, Bakhmut, Pokrovske? Russia has all of these. Is it stopping? Of course not! Mendel’s calls to give up Donbas so that people will stop dying are deeply dishonest. Because the entire history of this war shows that if we give up Donbas, tomorrow they will want Kharkiv, Odesa, Sumy, and Zaporizhzhia. And no matter how much truth Mendel tells about corruption or personal details about Zelensky, understand this: all that truth is not being presented to make your life better. It is being presented so that Russia can conquer all of Ukraine faster. Because vatniks do not become former vatniks. The “Russian world” settled in her head a long time ago, and she genuinely wants us to become part of that Russian world - with a strong hand, a dead civil society, and clean streets. Everyone sitting quietly at home, keeping their heads down, with “order” everywhere - the way vatniks like it. But we will never have that here. Source: translated from the text of Serhii Marchenko.