Ukrainian officials say they are investigating allegations that a Russian soldier killed the wife of a woman named Natalia before two Russian soldiers repeatedly raped her in a village outside the capital, Kiev. Maria Mezendseva, a Ukrainian MP, said there were other rape victims whose cases have not yet been made public. But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peshkov denied that the woman, who was given the pseudonym Natalia to protect her, had been raped by two Russian soldiers. However, activists told the Independent that reports of sexual violence against Ukrainian civilians did not reflect the scale of the problem. Nadine Tunasi, a survivor champion for the British government’s Initiative for the Prevention of Sexual Violence in Conflict, said: in Ukraine does not prove to be different. “I know from my work with survivors how sexual violence is used during conflicts to destroy not only the lives of individuals but of entire communities. “Therefore, it is necessary to take measures to protect the survivors and to ensure that the perpetrators are held accountable.” The United Nations estimates that at least 1,119 civilians have been killed since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February. Steve Crawshaw, of Freedom from Torture, told the Independent: “Sexual violence by the Russian armed forces has been frequently reported during many of Putin’s military engagements, dating back to his brutal war in Chechnya, where freedom from torture found that the practice was widespread. “The growing reports of torture and sexual violence by Russian forces in Ukraine are, unfortunately, not surprising.” Mr Crawshaw, a former war correspondent and former correspondent for The Independent in Eastern Europe, said: “The rules of war clearly state that there are no conditions under which civilians can be targeted and that sexual violence or torture against civilians is war crime. “In order to avoid further catastrophes, it is vital that the conflict is ended quickly, that abuses are investigated and that perpetrators are held accountable.” “Unfortunately, sexual violence is always a feature of war and is often used as a weapon in conflict,” said Hillary Margolis, a women’s rights researcher with the Observatory for Human Rights. “The fact that we see the initial reports of rape by troops in Ukraine only indicates that there are probably many more that remain unreported,” Margolis told the Independent. “It is important that survivors of sexual violence have access to post-rape emergency care, including during the war, and that investigations into possible war crimes in Ukraine include rape and other gender-based violence.” It comes after the Independent reported in late February that a growing number of Ukrainian women would endure sexual violence used as a “weapon of war” in the wake of Russia’s invasion of the country. Leading human rights groups have warned that women may be among those hardest hit by Russia’s “full-scale invasion” of Ukraine, noting that they have already “suffered” badly during the bloody eight-year conflict between supporters of Rebel Russia in the separatist east of Ukraine.
