Russian troops accused of raping Ukrainian women

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has accused the Russian troops of sexually assaulting Ukrainian women.

This was as the International Criminal Court (ICC) studies whether to prosecute alleged war crimes in Ukraine.

However, the UN Human Rights Council on Friday overwhelmingly voted to launch a top-level investigation into violations committed following Russia’s invasion.

Thirty-two members of the 47-seat council voted to establish the highest-level probe possible into alleged rights violations.

They already started to rape our women

Ukraine’s foreign minister told a briefing at Chatham House: “We have numerous cases of, unfortunately, when Russian soldiers rape women in the Ukrainian cities.”

He backed a call for the creation of a special tribunal to punish Moscow’s aggression as Russia’s hostility escalates beyond bombing.

Kuleba said international law “is the only tool of civilisation that is available to us to make sure that in the end, eventually, all those who made this war possible will be brought to justice”.

He said: “We are fighting against the enemy who is much stronger than us. But the international law is on our side, and hopefully… it will make its own contribution to help us prevail.”

Svetlana Zorina, 27, from the Russian-controlled city of Kherson, also accused the invading Russian forces of sexually assaulting women.

Zorina said people living in the Black Sea port city can only “sit at home and take care of ourselves because we are scared. They already started to rape our women.

“There was information from people that I personally know that a 17-year-old girl – it happened to her and then they killed her. We are terrified and scared but we are not going to give up.”

Zorina said leaving the house had now become too “dangerous”.

“They started to rape our women so now it’s very dangerous to go outside, especially when it’s dark. I heard about a few cases from people I know, unfortunately,” she added.

It comes as human rights organizations last week warned sexual violence against Ukrainian women would likely increase as a result of the conflict.

Freedom from Torture director, Steve Crawshaw, said: “We saw torture when Moscow was seeking to impose with dramatic force in Chechnya.

“The pattern of torture became absolutely notorious. And rape was definitely part of that. Again and again in the context of conflict, we see torture used as a form of punishment and violation.

“It is mindless violence with terrible consequences for those who suffer it. In the context of war, women are often targeted as a form of brutal dehumanising, with rape, including gang rape, routinely used as a weapon of war.”

British PM, Gordon Brown, former judges and law experts have called for the creation of a special tribunal.

In a statement, they said Putin’s “decision to launch attacks on Ukraine poses a grave challenge to the post-1945 international order”.

They said: “He has sought to replace the rule of law and principles of self-determination for all peoples by the use of force.

“The whole world needs to be made aware of the act of aggression he has instigated and the atrocities he has ordered.

“We will leave no stone unturned in bringing to an end the terrible events we are now seeing, thereby ensuring that those who have unleashed such horrors are subject to personal accountability under the criminal law, so that justice can be done.”

Ukraine has also brought a case against Russia before the International Court of Justice – the only court that can rule on conflicts between states.