A Ukrainian MP has raised alarm about Russian soldiers raping and sexually assaulting women during its invasion, and said Ukraine would “not be silent” about the crimes.
In a TV interview, Maria Mezentseva referenced one case in Brovary, an eastern suburb of Kyiv, where a woman was raped in front of her child.
On Wednesday, the prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova, said the attack was being investigated by the authorities and Ukraine had told Russia that an arrest warrant had been issued for the serviceman.
Speaking on Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday, Mezentseva said: “There is one case which was very widely discussed recently because it’s been recorded and proceeded with [by] the prosecutor’s office, and we’re not going into details, but it’s quite a scary scene when a civilian was shot dead in his house in a small town next to Kyiv.
“His wife was – I’m sorry but I have to say it – raped several times in front of her underage child.”
After the attack, the soldier is believed to have threatened the child.
Mezentseva, the head of Ukraine’s permanent delegation to the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe, said that cases needed to be recorded, as “justice has to prevail”. Rape and sexual assault are considered war crimes and a breach of international humanitarian law.
She said cases were being underreported, and added that she hoped that the UK could pass on expertise on how to support victims in the aftermath of crimes.
“There are many more victims rather than just this one case which has been made public by the prosecutor general,” she said. “And of course, we are expecting many more of them, which will be public once victims will be ready to talk about that.
“That’s why you know, when we’ve been talking to Boris Johnson, when we will be talking to your Home Office, when we’ve been talking to MPs of UK, we’ve also raised this issue that this aftermath, which we are dealing with right now, the aftermath of war, has to be taken very cautiously, very seriously, and to take into account the UK experience and experience of other countries, which can help us in dealing with psychologists, and how to help these people to actually live over these cases, to keep going afterwards, to keep living.”
She added: “We will definitely not be silent.”
Her words echoed those of fellow Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko, who addressed UK MPs earlier in March and said Russian soldiers were sexually assaulting and raping women.
She said: “We have reports of women being gang-raped. These women are usually the ones who are unable to get out. We are talking about senior citizens. Most of these women have either been executed after the crime of rape or they have taken their own lives.”
