Ukrainian MP Maria Mezentseva has revealed that Ukrainian women are being sexually assaulted and raped by Russian soldiers as the war enters its 33rd day.
On Sunday, Mezentseva, 32, went on Sky News to describe the case of a woman being assaulted in front of her child in Kyiv.
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,” the MP said.
“His wife was – I’m sorry but I have to say it – raped several times in front of her underage child.”
The soldier reportedly threatened the child after attacking the woman.
Mezentseva, who is the head of Ukraine’s permanent delegation to the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe, said that cases of rape and assault need to be recorded, as “justice has to prevail”, and she would “not be silent” about the 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.”
Last Wednesday, Iryna Venediktova, the prosecutor general, said the attack was being investigated by authorities and an arrest warrant had been issued for the perpetrator.
Under the International Humanitarian Law, which lays out rules to limit the effects of armed conflict, rape and sexual assault are war crimes.
Mezentseva’s latest comments are not the first to address the rape and sexual assault of women during the invasion of Ukraine.
Earlier this month, fellow Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko, addressed UK MPs saying Russian soldiers were sexually assaulting and raping women.
“We have reports of women being gang-raped,” she revealed.
“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.”