STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT-Over 300 cases of rape by Russian forces, including of girls aged 12-16, have been reported in Ukraine, its Armed Forces alleged on Monday.
“Russia is raping Ukraine,” the military said. “They are bombing our cities, plundering, murdering, raping women.”
Russian soldiers are “rapists without any moral boundaries,” the Ukrainian military claimed.
On Sunday, a picture emerged on social media showing the bodies of three women and one man piled under a blanket.
The three women were all naked and had been partially burned, photographer Mikhail Palinchak claimed, according to The Guardian, fueling allegations that Russian forces are committing sexual violence against Ukrainian women, a war crime.
“We have had several calls to our emergency hotline from women and girls seeking assistance,” according to Kateryna Cherepakha, president of the gender equality and human rights organization La Strada Ukraine. “We haven’t been able to reach them because of the fighting.”
UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo said the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine was seeking to verify allegations of sexual violence by Russian forces.
“These include gang rape and rapes in front of children,” she said. “There are also claims of sexual violence by Ukrainian forces and civil defense militias.”
The list of reported abuses committed by Russian soldiers against Ukrainian civilians continues to grow, as the retreat of Russian forces from formerly occupied areas reveals indications about their activities.
Hundreds of corpses were found in Bucha, near Kyiv, earlier this week in an incident now referred to as the Bucha Massacre.
Graphic images from the city of about 37,000 residents in the province of Kiev have caused world leaders, including Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, to vehemently condemn the scenes.(TCS)
