UN confirms accusations of sexual violence in Ukraine

Warning: Some readers may find details of the story disturbing

Some 124 cases of sexual crimes have been reported to the United Nations, but that's “only the tip of the iceberg,” says the UN special representative on sexual violence.

In an address to the Security Council, Pramila Patten said sexual based violence is “occurring against women, girls, men and boys.” However, the full scale of these atrocities is not yet known because sexual violence is “the most constantly and massively underreported allegation.”

The UN data, which includes reports from non-government organizations, is attributed to the rampant displacement of Ukrainians. People living in shelters and makeshift basements make them vulnerable, at a time when there is a lack of a police force to keep them safe. Many people have also been forced to flee the country, with little more than a suitcase, and nowhere to go. Patten say this has led to the “heightened risk of trafficking in persons, including for the purpose of sexual exploitation and prostitution.”

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The findings of the United Nations echoes the statements of witnesses in Ukraine. In April this year, Ukrainian MP and leader of the Holos Party, Kira Rudyk, claimed there was widespread genocide in Bucha. During a visit, she discovered the streets were littered with charred bodies, especially of women. She says their bodies were burned to remove any evidence they were raped. She also spoke to survivors of the war, many of whom told her they were raped, some “in front of their children.”

Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova verified those accounts last Tuesday.

She is tasked with documenting evidence of war crimes at the judicial level, and she said rapes are prevalent “by Russian soldiers against, women, children, men and elderly women.” The Ukrainian Women’s Fund, a women’s rights organization confirmed Monday that victims are of all gender identities and of all ages.

Speaking on behalf of Ukraine’s Ministry of Interior, Sergiy Kyslytsya, permanent representative of Ukraine to the United Nations, testified that deaths have resulted from these violent acts. He also noted that such crimes were not limited to Bucha, but also committed in Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Kherson,and Chernihiv.

Russia has dismissed these allegations, calling them unfounded and lacking evidence. The Russian permanent representative to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia said accusations of Russian personnel committing crimes of a sexual nature is a political ploy and “a favourite tactic of the Kyiv regime.”

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