“Rape is being used as a tool of war in Ukraine to break our spirit, humiliate us and show us that we can be helpless to protect our women and children and their bodies,” Kira Rudyk told CBS. Member of the Parliament of Ukraine. News. “It happens systematically in the occupied territories.” Rudick gathers evidence and testimonies in the hope that the perpetrators will eventually be brought to justice. “In the beginning, we worked to make sure the women were safe and receiving medical treatment. And I can tell you that some of them were indeed pregnant by Russian soldiers who raped them,” Rudick said. He visited Butsa shortly after the withdrawal of Russian troops and as soon as the immediate medical needs of the people were met, he said he used a combination of telephone records and documents left behind “to get the names of the soldiers who committed these crimes.” We are currently collecting more and more data and information about them. “ Destroyed houses in the village of Lypivka, Kiev region, on April 12, 2022. About a month later, the village was occupied by Russian troops, Oleg Pereverzev / NurPhoto via Getty Images
“I wish he had killed me instead”
Terrifying testimonies of sexual violence and rape have been reported from areas previously occupied by Russian forces as they withdraw to refocus their attack on the eastern Donbass region of Ukraine. The full extent of the horrors is not and may never be known. Rudyk heard a story of a woman being raped in front of her family members, as well as a woman who visited and raped her repeatedly for many days. “I wish he had killed me instead of what he did,” Vera, an 83-year-old retired teacher, told CBS News’ senior foreign correspondent Holly Williams, who visited the small village in southern Ukraine, where she lives shortly after Russian soldiers. he had occupied it on the left. Visibly upset, Vera said that a Russian fighter from Donetsk raped her at her home with her disabled husband in the next room. I asked [the soldier]”What do you have against our government?” “It was not us who started the war.” My God, I wish I had not said that. I tempted fate. “He said I was very smart,” Vera told CBS News. “He said get up. I got up. He grabbed me by the back of the neck. He tightened it. I started drowning. I could not breathe. He asked me who was at home. I only told my sick old man, no one else… and then it started “. Vera said police told her that two other women in her small village had also been raped – another retiree and a younger woman – and that there was a similar case in a neighboring town that had also been occupied. Vera said that although the conquerors had left her village, it was still petrified every night. “I am sad. Everything hurts. I am in a state where I am neither dead nor alive.” Putin vows Russia’s military goals in Ukraine will be met as more reports of atrocities emerge 05:13
Rape as a war crime
Under international law, rape during conflict can be a war crime, a crime against humanity and – when linked to the intent to exterminate a group – part of genocide. Rudik said Russian forces used the rape as a tool to terrorize people because the Ukrainians had put up such fierce resistance to the invasion. “They are trying to find ways to break us. Well, it does not work right now. It just makes us angry and brings in more and more people who want to fight, who want to protect our peaceful cities from this atrocity,” he said. Rudyk said she did not believe Russian troops had been instructed to rape Ukrainian women, “but they were told to do whatever they wanted, which is what allows them to do so.” Humanitarian organizations are working to help send rape and emergency contraception kits to Ukraine to meet immediate medical needs and facilitate the collection of evidence. On Wednesday, the United Nations issued a series of global guidelines on how to gather evidence from witnesses, victims and survivors of sexual violence in conflict zones. Rudyk said that while she hopes her work will help bring about justice, sexual violence as a tool of war will continue as long as the conflict continues. “The only way to stop the atrocities is to end the war,” he said. “And every time a global organization comes together and says, ‘Okay, we’ll do it. [together] in two weeks and rethink what is going on, and we will think, maybe we are taking some action, I want you to think that there is probably a woman somewhere in the occupied territories – and no [just] one – that for these two weeks I would wake up every day knowing what was going to happen. Russian soldiers will come in and rape her. And it may not survive. “ Justine Redman and Pamela Falk contributed to this report. In the USA, help is provided to those who have survived sexual violence and their families. RAINN offers resources at 1-800-656-HOPE and their website, www.rainn.org More Haley Ott Haley Ott is a digital reporter / producer for CBS News based in London.
