In a Facebook post, Denisova claimed that an 11-year-old boy was raped by Russians in front of his mother, who was tied to a chair, and forced to watch as happened in the Ukrainian city of Bukha. “The level of barbarism of the Russian Federation’s army of terrorists and executioners knows no bounds – raped children …,” wrote Denisova, who was appointed by the Ukrainian parliament to monitor human rights abuses. Also in Bucha, Denisova wrote, a 14-year-old girl became pregnant after being allegedly raped by five Russian soldiers and a 20-year-old woman was raped by three Russians “in all possible ways at the same time” in the city of Irpen. “There is no place on earth or in hell where racist criminals can hide from retaliation!” Denisova wrote, adding that rape is strictly prohibited by Article 27 of the 1949 Geneva Convention on the Protection of Civilians in Time of War. Denisova also urged the UN Commission of Inquiry into Human Rights Violations to take into account “these events of Russian war crimes in Ukraine.” “Racist occupiers must bear the strictest responsibility!” he said. The Human Rights Commissioner of the Ukrainian Parliament claimed on Friday that Russian soldiers raped children during the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. In the photo, a child looks out of the window of an orphanage where he lives on April 8 in Lviv, Ukraine. Photo by Joe Raedle / Getty Images Children have reportedly been targeted by Russian troops since the start of the war in Ukraine in late February, with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) saying 121 children were killed on April 3. On Sunday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report containing testimonies of Russian soldiers raping and executing Ukrainian civilians. HRW reported that between February 27 and March 14, a case of “repeated rape” and two cases of “summary execution” took place in the occupied territories of Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Kiev. “The cases we have recorded are tantamount to untold, deliberate cruelty and violence against Ukrainian civilians,” Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director, told Human Rights Watch. “Rape, murder and other acts of violence against people detained by Russian forces should be investigated as war crimes.” This week, Ukrainian Interior Minister Anton Gerashchenko told the Telegram that Russian soldiers had “brutally tortured and killed” several civilians in the village of Motyzhyn, including Mayor Olha Sukhenko and her husband and son, who had been detained. on March 25th. The mayor and her husband had refused to cooperate with Russian forces, according to locals. Similar incidents were reported in Bucha, where journalists said they saw civilian bodies in what Ukrainian officials described as a “deliberate massacre.” Newsweek contacted the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry for comment.
