Proceedings of the International scientific and practical conference ―New York Global Science Conference 2026‖ (May 18-20, 2026) / Publisher website: www.naukainfo.com. – New York, USA, 2026. - 322 p.

176 phenomena. This kind of exaggeration is aimed to ignore the facts and assists Russian propaganda to distribute a distorted representation of the Ukrainian political system during wartime. The discourse that Russian propaganda has disseminated over years as part of its efforts to delegitimize Ukrainian authorities, Y. Mendel attempts to support by focusing on specific political actor. In particular, Y. Mendel focuses on the personality of the President of Ukraine, describing him as an ―emotionally unbalanced person‖, ―an actor without empathy‖, ―one of the main obstacles to peace‖. Similar formulations are aimed at concentrating negativity around the main political figure in Ukraine – the President. Creating an image construction of President Zelensky as a political leader who threatens both his own state and the world. In other words, and to a global audience to which this narrative is directed. Within the framework of these manipulative statements, Y. Mendel’s thesis that ―Zelensky is as evil as Putin‖ is particularly indicative. This construction is used by the speaker to create moral symmetry between Russia – the aggressor state, and Ukraine – the state that was attacked. A representative case in which the narrative of ―moral symmetry‖ is used to blur the boundary between aggressor and victim [12, 2024-2025] has been promoted for years by Russian propaganda across various international media and through opinion leaders in different countries. Promoting the narrative about the ―futility of the war‖ between Russia and Ukraine, as well as alleged necessity for Ukraine to stop the resistance, is similarly one of the most common manipulative strategies advanced by Russian propagandists targeting a global audience [13]. The concept of Russian propaganda concerning the ―futility of the war‖ is aimed at demoralization, the reduction in support to Ukraine, primarily in Western countries, and forming a demand for necessary concessions for Russia. In the course of the interview Y. Mendel articulated a number of discursive parallels interconnected with Russian propaganda through a number of statements: ―Ukraine has no chance of joining NATO‖, ―Ukraine continues to lose territory‖,