Reports of sexual violence in Ukraine are on the rise, according to a senior UN official, while a human rights group has accused Russian soldiers of using rape as a weapon of war.
The head of UN Women, Sima Bahous, told the UN security council on Monday night that “we are increasingly hearing of rape and sexual violence”.
“The brutality displayed against Ukrainian civilians has raised all red flags,” Ms Bahous said.
All allegations must be independently investigated to ensure justice and accountability, she told the council.
Kateryna Cherepakha, president of rights group La Strada-Ukraine, said its emergency hotlines had received calls accusing Russian troops of nine cases of rape, involving a dozen women and girls.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” she told the council via video. “We know and see - and we want you to hear our voices - that violence and rape is used now as a weapon of war by Russian invaders in Ukraine.”
The UN said last week that its rights monitors were seeking to verify allegations of sexual violence by Russian forces, including gang rape and rapes in front of children, and claims Ukrainian forces and civil defense militias had also committed sexual violence.
Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy told the council on Monday that Russia is not targeting civilians and accused Ukraine and its allies of "a clear intention to present Russian soldiers as sadists and rapists”.
Ukraine’s ombudsman for human rights and prosecutor general’s office have said they are documenting cases of rape and sexual violence.
An 83-year-old Ukrainian woman has told CBS News how she was raped by a Russian soldier during the army’s occupation of her village.
Vera, a retired school teacher, said that she wished “he had killed me instead of what he did”.
The elderly woman lives in a village that was occupied by Russian forces last month, which the US news outlet decided not to name for her safety.
Describing the ordeal, she told reporters: “He grabbed me by the back of the neck. I started to choke, I couldn’t breathe.”
“I told the one who raped me, ‘I’m old enough to be your mother. Would you let this happen to your mother? He made me shut up.”
Vera said that her disabled husband was in the house at the time of the attack. Referring to the Russian soldier, she said: “When he finished he grabbed a bottle of vodka. I asked if I could put my clothes back on. He barked, ‘No!’”
The man reportedly fired his assault rifle into the air three times after he left the house.
Vera added: “He should have shot me. I wish he had killed me instead of what he did. Everything hurts. I’m in a state where I’m neither dead nor alive.
“Before I felt joy with the spring, now I don’t feel anything. I have nothing.”
Human Rights Watch says it has documented several cases of Russian military forces violating the laws of war in occupied areas, including committing repeated rape.
“The cases we documented amount to unspeakable, deliberate cruelty and violence against Ukrainian civilians,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
“Rape, murder, and other violent acts against people in the Russian forces’ custody should be investigated as war crimes.”
The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.
