Russian soldiers use “rape” as a weapon of war: the Ukrainian rights group to the United Nations
2 min readUnited Nations: The United Nations Is Increasingly Hearing Accounts Accounts of Rape and Sexual Violence in Ukraine, A Senior U.n. Official Told The Security Council on Monday, As A Ukrainian Human Rights Group Accused Russian Troops of Using Rape AS A Weapon of War.
KATERYNA Cherrepaka, President of La Strada-Ukraine, said the emergency hotline of his organization had received a call accusing the Russian army of nine rape cases, involving 12 women and girls.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” he told the council through the video. “We know and see – and we want you to hear our voices – that violence and rape are used now as a weapon of war by Russian invaders in Ukraine.”
Russia repeatedly denied attacking civilians since the invasion to Ukraine began on February 24.
The United Nations said last week that U.N. Human rights monitors seek to verify allegations of sexual violence by Russian forces, including gang rape and rape in front of children, and claiming Ukrainian forces and civil defense militias also commit sexual violence.
U.n mission. Ukraine did not immediately respond to the request to comment on the allegations of Ukrainian forces.
“Russia, as we declared more than once, did not fight against the civilian population,” Russian representative U. Duta Dmitry Polyanststiy told the Security Council on Monday, accuse Ukraine and allies from “clear intentions to present the Russian army as sadistic and rapist.”
The executive director of the United Nations Women, Sima Bahous, said that all charges must be investigated independently to ensure justice and accountability.
“We are increasingly listening to rape and sexual violence,” he told the council. “The combination of mass transfer with the results of a large pressure on concurrences and mercenaries and brutality displayed against Ukrainian civilians has collected all red flags.”
All sides in the Ukrainian war have a military service system, where young men are required by law to carry out military services. Ukraine and Russia have accused each other using mercenaries.
Russia said it was doing a “special military operation” to support the declaration of independence by separatists in two provinces in East Ukraine.
Ukraine u.n. Sergiy Kyslytsya Ambassador told the Security Council that the Ukrainian General Prosecutor’s Office “launched a special mechanism for the documentation of cases of sexual violence by the Russian army against Ukrainian women.”