Growing numbers of Ukrainian women in areas recaptured from Russian occupation are starting to speak about the sexual violence they experienced at the hands of Russian soldiers. The watershed moment comes from the amplitude and nature of the crimes, says Inna Shevchenko, a Ukrainian feminist activist and author of “A Letter from the East”.
From: France24 By: Sonya CIESNIK
When Russian forces began their full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the bodies of Ukrainian women became another battlefield. Early in the war, reports of torture, mock killings and forced deportations emerged. Yet accounts from survivors of sexual violence were much rarer, because of the silence and isolation of many of the victims.
The cases of sexual violence documented today in Ukraine took place in the areas that were temporarily occupied by Russia and are now liberated. While prosecutors have registered 344 cases of conflict-related sexual violence since the start of the invasion, women’s groups believe the real number runs in the thousands.
Inna Shevchenko, the author of “A Letter from the East”, spoke to numerous women who returned from Russian captivity and testified as to what they witnessed: widespread, repeated and targeted sexual violence – inflicted not just on civilian and military women but also on men.
Voice of Ukraine 