NYT: Russian commanders encourage sexual violence in occupied territories

Russian military commanders give orders or encourage rape in the occupied territories of Ukraine.

The New York Times writes about it.

A sexual violence prosecutor at the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office Iryna Didenko informed that Russian soldiers have a clear pattern of behavior: "The ground troops arrive, and on the second or third day, the rapes begin," she noted.

Victims testify that Russian commanders know what their soldiers are doing and even encourage violence. In some cases, Didenko claims, they gave orders to rape or gave instructions that condoned it, such as telling them to "relax."

In one of the cases described by Didenko, the commander allowed the soldiers to enter the apartment building. At the same time, a soldier could be heard saying: "Weʼll just beat her [one of the women], and weʼll rape her." British lawyer Wayne Jordash, who advises the Ukrainian prosecutorʼs office, notes that there are signs of tacit consent on the part of commanders in 30 cases he has examined.

The Russian military practices a clearer scheme of organized sexual violence in detention centers, the newspaper writes. A 26-year-old native of the Kherson region Olha told the newspaper how she spent 14 days in custody and was threatened with rape all this time. On about the eighth or ninth day, she was tied to a table, while she was unclothed to the waist. For fifteen minutes, as the woman says, the investigator scolded, and then let seven more men into the room. She was also tortured with electric current.

According to Didenko, a total of 154 cases of rape were officially established. However, the prosecutor believes that in reality there are many more such cases. She told about a village in Kyiv region, where, according to psychologists, every ninth woman was abused by Russian soldiers. However, not all women are ready to talk about it openly.

Rape victims, as Didenko notes, are generally reluctant to talk about what happened, and against the backdrop of war, the situation worsens, as they can be accused of collaborating with the Russian army.