Former Zelenskyy Press Secretary Calls For An End To The Ukraine Proxy War.
Iuliia Mendel, Former Spokeswoman For Zelensky Calls For Peace In Ukraine.
With the possibility of a peace deal ending the proxy war in Ukraine, the pro-war mainstream media is calling for the war to continue.
The New York Times’ Thomas Friedman lamented the possibility of peace in Ukraine, comparing Trump possibly ending the war in Ukraine to Neville Chamberlain appeasing Adolf Hitler’s annexation of Czechoslovakia in 1938.
Similarly, the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board said that Trump would “tarnish his legacy” if he ended the war in Ukraine.
The Washington Post’s David Ignatius said that Trump will “live in infamy” if he ends the war in Ukraine.
Iuliia Mendel, the former press secretary for Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky from 2019-2021, gave a much more accurate and realistic assessment of the peace deal, mainly that Ukraine will not win, any future deal will be worse, and saving lives should be the top priority.
On X, Mendel said :
Every subsequent deal for Ukraine will only be worse — because we are losing. We are losing people, territory, and the economy.
The EU (which by the way has paid Russia more than €311 billion for energy and goods since February 2022) has no real strategy, no way to stop fueling Russian budget or support Ukraine enough to win, no direct dialogue with Moscow, and no meaningful leverage over either the Kremlin or Washington.
Arguments that “Russia has gained so little land” sound almost childish when you consider the human cost. We have lost more people in three years than some European nations have as the whole population.
My country is bleeding out. Many who reflexively oppose every peace proposal believe they are defending Ukraine. With all respect, that is the clearest proof they have no idea what is actually happening on the front lines and inside the country right now.
War is not a Hollywood movie. I will never abandon the values that God and democracy both place at the very foundation of human existence: human life is the highest good, and people — living, breathing people — are the ones who must be saved.
When asked, “Do you think a majority of Ukrainians agree?”, Mendel said, “I would not write this if I were not sure that really a lot of Ukrainians share this. A lot of people wrote me ‘thank you’ and not to back away.”
Iuliia Mendel’s point is best underscored by the fact that the peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, negotiated in Istanbul in April of 2022- which was blocked by the West- would have resulted in a much better outcome for Ukraine and saved hundreds of thousands of lives.
As the former adviser to the head of the Ukrainian president’s office, Oleksiy Arestovych said, “The Russian side still insisted on peace initiatives. And the Istanbul peace initiatives were very good, an intermediary document... Now 200-300 thousand would be alive, probably, and half of Ukraine would not be destroyed and mined... They agreed to political discussions on Crimea... We made concessions, but the amount of their concessions was greater. This will never happen again, it won’t, they will push more and more”.
Similarly, as Iuliia Mendel notes, blocking a peace deal will only result in more needless deaths and a peace deal even less favorable to Ukraine than what is currently on the table.
Furthermore, Iuliia Mendel is correct that the majority of Ukrainians want to end the war.
As Gallup wrote after conducting a poll in Ukraine in August, “Most Ukrainians now favor ending the war with Russia through negotiations, as support for fighting until victory has dropped sharply since the early days of the conflict”.
Gallup added, “More than three years into the war, Ukrainians’ support for continuing to fight until victory has hit a new low. In Gallup’s most recent poll of Ukraine — conducted in early July — 69% say they favor a negotiated end to the war as soon as possible, compared with 24% who support continuing to fight until victory.”
Despite this, Western war hawks continue to oppose an end to the Ukraine proxy war in order to continue to use Ukraine as cannon fodder against Russia.
Note to readers: The Dissident is a reader-supported outlet. If you liked this article, consider becoming a paid subscriber.




Better late than never. Ukrainians are apparently beginning to accept reality and we can only hope that Europeans will begin to understand what their rulers have wrought. Russophobic Americans never really gave a damn about Ukrainians. After all, weren't they Soviets too. The NeoCons, from Victoria Nuland and Thomas Friedman to Tim Snyder and his buddy Lindsey Graham, will never repent, but with luck, this war that should never have been, will end soon and the rebuilding of human relations, as well as the physical environment, can get started.
Yeah, Mearsheimer already told the European half of the Nat-Sec Nutsacks™ world the truth two weeks ago. Is anybody listening? Sadly, it seems not. https://socraticgadfly.blogspot.com/2025/11/john-mearsheimer-talks-truth-about.html