Ukraine rights group tells top U.N. body that rape used as weapon of war

The United Nations Security Council holds a meeting on the situation amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine with a focus on women, at the United Nations Headquarters in Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S., April 11, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

The United Nations is increasingly hearing accounts of rape and sexual violence in Ukraine, a senior U.N. official told the Security Council on Monday, as a Ukrainian human rights group accused Russian troops of using rape as a weapon of war.

Kateryna Cherepakha, president of La Strada-Ukraine, said her organization's emergency hotlines had received calls accusing Russian soldiers of nine cases of rape, involving 12 women and girls.