Russian are using rape as a weapon of war in Ukraine, UN says
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Russian troops raped more than 100 Ukrainians with victims as young as FOUR as part of military strategy to equip troops with Viagra, UN says
- Russia uses rape as part of deliberate military strategy in Ukraine, UN says
- Envoy verified over 100 rapes involving victims aged four to 82
- Most of the victims were women or girls, but men and boys were also attacked
- Soldiers are equipped with Viagra, according to testimonials from victims
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Russian troops use rape as a weapon of war against Ukrainians, according to damning evidence gathered by the UN.
Pramila Patten, UN Special Envoy on Sexual Violence, said she verified more than 100 cases of rape against Ukrainians during the eight-month war — but the actual number will almost certainly be higher.
The victims ranged in age from four to 82 and were mainly women and girls, but also some men and young boys, she added.
Russian soldiers use rape as part of ‘military strategy’ against Ukrainians, UN special envoy concludes (file image)
Patten said survivors have told her about female genital mutilation and soldiers “equipped with Viagra” in what appears to be a “military strategy” to dehumanize people.
“If women are held and raped for days, if you start raping little boys and men, if you see a series of genital mutilations, if you hear women testifying about Russian soldiers equipped with Viagra, then that is clearly a military strategy.” she said. .
“And if the victims report what was said during the rapes, it is clearly a deliberate tactic to dehumanize the victims.”
The United Nations has verified “more than a hundred cases” of rape or sexual assault in Ukraine since Russia invaded in February, Patten said, citing a UN report released in late September.
The report “confirmed crimes against humanity committed by the Russian armed forces, and according to collected testimony, the ages of the victims of sexual assault range from four to 82 years old,” she said.
Russian troops have been accused of massacring civilians in the areas they occupy, and the UN says it has now verified more than 100 rapes
A Ukrainian man tries to survive in the remains of his bombed-out home in Kiev after Russian missiles fired into civilian areas
The victims are mostly women and girls, but also men and boys, she added. But “reported cases are just the tip of the iceberg.”
“It is very difficult to have reliable statistics during an active conflict, and the numbers will never reflect reality because sexual assault is a silent crime” that is largely underreported, she said.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February when Putin ordered what would be a days-long “special military operation” to overthrow the government.
But he’s now stuck in an eight-month war that looks set to go on for months at the very least, and he’s suffering huge losses.
Ukrainian resistance has proved fiercer than almost all observers expected, fueled by atrocities committed by Russian forces in occupied territories.
In April, after Putin’s men withdrew from areas around the capital Kiev, mass graves containing the bodies of hundreds of civilians were uncovered.
Russian soldiers sexually assaulted children aged four and people aged 82 and are ‘equipped with Viagra’, UN says (file image)
Survivors of the occupation told how Russian soldiers hunted anyone suspected of collaborating with the government or the military to interrogate and torture – some were eventually killed.
Others told how soldiers came to their homes, beat or raped them, stole them and then fled as Ukrainian troops advanced.
Kiev argues that Moscow is waging a genocidal war aimed at erasing their national identity by killing innocent people, deporting people to Russia and systematic rape.
Putin denies that his armed forces are deliberately targeting civilians.