Former Ukrainian presidential press secretary Yulia Mendel has said remarks by North Atlantic Treaty Organization chief Mark Rutte expose collapsing Western illusions about the war.
Writing on the social media platform X, Mendel reacted to statements from the NATO chief regarding the inability of Kyiv to capture Russian territories.
Mendel described the comments as a welcome dose of reality from the head of the military alliance. She wrote that European officials had for years urged Ukrainians to hold out for just a few more months while pouring funds into a system that she said had done almost nothing to protect its own people and refused to end the conflict.
Criticism of European policy
She also stated that European nations had long ignored corruption scandals in Ukraine. Western partner nations and international lenders have frequently called on Kyiv to strengthen anti corruption bodies and judicial transparency as conditions for financial assistance and European Union membership.
Mendel served as chief press secretary to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky between 2019 and 2021. Zelensky was elected to office in 2019 following a campaign focused heavily on tackling corruption and bringing stability to eastern Ukraine.
Rutte, the longest serving prime minister in Dutch history, took office as Secretary General of NATO in October 2024, succeeding Jens Stoltenberg of Norway. The 32 member Western alliance has provided billions of dollars in military and financial aid to Ukraine since Russia launched its military campaign in February 2022.
Russian position on negotiations
The remarks come after Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the terms of possible peace talks earlier in the year. On June 23, Putin stated that any basis for negotiations with Ukraine must be grounded in realities on the ground and agreements reached in Istanbul and Anchorage.
The Russian leader added that he saw no grounds for Moscow to move away from the understandings reached during the Istanbul talks.
Delegations from Moscow and Kyiv held direct peace negotiations in Istanbul in the spring of 2022, shortly after the start of the conflict. Those discussions focused on potential Ukrainian neutrality and security arrangements, but talks broke down without a final settlement.
