Fired Ukrainian Official Admits She Lied About Russians Committing Mass Rape to Convince West to Send More Weapons

The former Ukrainian Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights, Lyudmila Denisova, has admitted she "exaggerated" reports of sex crimes allegedly committed by Russian soldiers in an effort to "convince the world to provide weapons and pressure" on behalf of the regime in Kiev. In an interview published in a Ukrainian outlet Friday, Denisova claimed her exaggerations succeeded on at least one occasion:

"When, for example, I spoke in the Italian parliament at the Committee on International Affairs, I heard and saw such fatigue from Ukraine, you know? I talked about terrible things in order to somehow push them to make the decisions that Ukraine and the Ukrainian people need." Italy's Five Star Movement, Denisova claimed, was originally "against the provision of weapons to us, but after [her] speech, one of the party leaders... said that they will support [us], including by the provision of weapons."

Denisova was removed from her post as human rights ombudswoman for spreading misinformation following a no-confidence vote of 234-to-9 by Ukraine's parliament on May 31. As Newsweek reported in the days that followed, one member of the Ukrainian parliament, Pavlo Frolov, provided a number of reasons why Denisova was removed, including "the numerous details of 'unnatural sexual offenses' and child sexual abuses in the occupied territories, which were unsupported by evidence." Frolov reportedly claimed that such misinformation has "only harmed Ukraine."

But there's little doubt that Denisova's penchant for "exaggeration" has harmed Russia as well. Since the beginning of the Russian Federation's special military operations in Ukraine in February, the disgraced ombudswoman's dramatized claims have been presented as fact in dozens of mainstream publications, including CNN and the Washington Post.

Ukrainian atrocity propaganda literally reinterpreting Azov war crimes as Russian ones; the dead mutilated woman was discovered in an Azov basement in Mariupol a week ago, those images are swimming all over Telegram. https://t.co/JxK7EyeiTE pic.twitter.com/TIYS3uZWve

— Anatoly Karlin (🅉,🅉) (@powerfultakes) April 4, 2022

Russian soldiers loot, rape and kill. 10 y.o. girls with vaginal and rectal tears. Women with swastika shaped burns. Russia. Russian Men did this. And Russian mothers raised them. A nation of immoral criminals

— Lesia Vasylenko (@lesiavasylenko) April 3, 2022

Countries that say ‘no’ to weapon transfer to #Ukraine do realize that they are contributing to autocratic regime change in #Europe? And disappearance of an independent country? And human right abuses? #Switzerland sticking to ‘neutrality’ is one example

— Lesia Vasylenko (@lesiavasylenko) June 2, 2022

All those fighter jets in the #jubilee parade should be going to #Ukraine. Actually all countries that have weapons they don’t use should send them to Ukraine. Because the more 🇺🇦 has, the less likely it is the other countries will need them for anything other than parades pic.twitter.com/NYyEigwVs1

— Lesia Vasylenko (@lesiavasylenko) June 2, 2022

Rockets are a continued threat to all of the territory of #Ukraine. The country really needs Israel’s iron done air defence system. 🙏 negotiations on this will come to fruition sooner rather than later

— Lesia Vasylenko (@lesiavasylenko) June 8, 2022