Popular conservative radio show host Mark Levin repeatedly claimed in his show on the evening of March 4 that Russian soldiers are raping Ukrainian women. Levin did not provide any media source for the claim he made. But it’s easy to find what the source of the claim online: fake news CNN and other leftist propaganda machinery.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba made the claim of Russian soldiers raping Ukrainian women and was reported by leftist propaganda outlets like Yahoo News and Reuters etc. Kuleba’s exact statement was:
When bombs fall on your cities, when soldiers rape women in the occupied cities – and we have numerous cases of, unfortunately, when Russian soldiers rape women in Ukrainian cities – it’s difficult of course to speak about the efficiency of the international law.
However, Yahoo News did add that “Kuleba’s claims have not been independently verified.” When Newsweek reported the story, it also added: “However, so far, there has been no evidence to support either claim.” On the other hand, Mark Levin went on a rant against Russia, presenting the claims as facts without adding that these claims have not been verified and do not represent facts. Levin even supported Lindsey Graham’s idiotic call for someone to “take out” Putin – a statement for which conservatives widely slammed Graham.
The second claim of Ukrainian women’s rape came from a young woman interviewed by CNN. The woman named, Svetlana Zorina, claimed that she personally knew some people who told her of a 17-year-old girl raped and killed by Russian soldiers. Her claim was not verified and when New York Post reported on Zorina’s story, they included the following note:
The mainstream media sources did not indicate that they tried to reach the Russian side – the foreign ministry – to get their comment. That is unprofessional and biased reporting.
Verdict: Mark Levin practiced fake news style propaganda against Russia by not reminding his listeners that the claims of Russian soldiers’ rape of Ukrainian women were not verified and merely statements coming from one side with no evidence provided. Yahoo News and other mainstream news outlets did include the note that the claims have not been verified. CNN also didn’t include the note that it’s a claim not verified independently of Zorina. And they didn’t reach for the Russian official sources for a response. Thus the claim remains a claim and not a fact.
Skepticle Score: Mixed. Mark Levin – 10/10, CNN – 8/10, rest of the media sources cited – 5/10
Ernie's Take 
[…] Newsweek called the link between the two “misleading” without offering any evidence or reasonable explanation. Its story was more denial than debunking the claim with proof. As part of its leftist political loyalty to the liberal globalists—the people funding Ukrainian dictatorship’s aggression on the Donbas region and training Ukraine’s Azov Nazis—Newsweek tried to label the Ukrainian Nazis as merely “far right” extremists whose presence in Ukrainian military was a more “complex” issue. […]
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