Warning: This news contains disturbing expressions that describe sexual violence.
We met 50-year-old Anna in a quiet rural neighborhood 70 kilometers west of Kiev. We changed his name to protect his identity.
Anna told us that on March 7, when a foreign soldier suddenly entered her house, she was inside with her husband:
“He held a gun to my head and took me to a nearby house. He gave me orders and said, ‘Take off your clothes or I will shoot you.’ He continued his threats, saying that he would kill me if I didn’t do what he said. Later, he started raping me.”
Anna described her attacker as a young and weak Chechen warrior, an ally of Russia:
“While he was raping me, four more soldiers came in. I thought they were done with me. They drove him away. I never saw him again.”
Maria believes she was rescued by Russian soldiers from another unit.
Anna returned home and found her husband. His wife, however, was shot in the stomach:
“He ran after me and tried to save me, but they shot him with a few bullets.”
The couple took shelter in their neighbor’s house. However, Anna’s injured wife, who could not be taken to the hospital due to the conflict, died two days later.
Anna cried all the time as she told us her story. She showed him the place where he and his neighbors had buried his wife in the courtyard of their house.
Anna told us that she was in contact with the hospital and received psychological support.
The soldiers who saved Anna’s life stayed at her house for several days. Anna says the soldiers pointed their guns at her head and demanded her husband’s belongings:
“When they left the house, I found drugs and viagra. They used drugs, they were often drunk. Most of them were murderers, rapists, looters. Few of them were decent types.”
As we left Anna’s house and walked down the road, we heard another terrifying story.
It is alleged that a woman was killed after being raped. Neighbors say that Anna’s rapist killed her before she went to her house.
According to her neighbors, the woman in her 40s was taken out of her home and kept in the bedroom of a nearby house, which was evacuated when the war started.
The wallpapers of the well decorated house are gaudy. The bed inside is also gold plated. But this house is now a disturbing crime scene. There are extensive traces of blood stains on the bed mattress and duvet.
On the corner mirror, it was written in lipstick, “He was tortured by unknown people, he was buried by Russian soldiers”.
Oksana, a neighbor, told us that the note was written by Russian soldiers who found the woman’s body and buried her:
“Russian soldiers told me that the woman was raped, her throat was either slit or stabbed, she was covered in blood.”
This woman is also buried in the garden of the house.
The day after our visit, the police opened the tomb for investigation and examined the body.
The body was naked, with deep and wide scars on its neck.
Kyiv Police Chief Andriy Nebitov told us that they are investigating another case in a village 50 kilometers west of the capital.
A couple in their 30s lived with their children in a house on the edge of the village.
Andriy Nebitov told us:
“On March 9, many Russian soldiers entered the house. They shot the father, who wanted to protect his wife and child, in the garden.
“Then two soldiers raped the woman repeatedly. They were going, coming and raping. They did this three times. They threatened the woman with harming her son if she resisted. The woman did not resist to protect her son.”
Before the soldiers left, he burned the house and killed the family’s dog.
The woman contacted the police after she fled with her son.
Andriy Nebitov said his team took the woman’s statement.
The cops collect evidence at the family’s home.
Few traces remain of a peaceful, ordinary life. There are only ruins. We saw a children’s bike, a toy horse and leash, and a man’s fur coat and winter shoes.
The body of the man of the house was buried in the garden by the neighbors. The police opened the tomb and are examining the body. They are considering taking the case to international courts.
Ukraine’s Human Rights Commissioner (Ombudsman) Lyudmyla Denisova said they have documented many similar cases:
“During the occupation, approximately 25 girls and women aged 14-24 were systematically raped in the basement of a house in Buça. Nine of these people were pregnant.
“The Russian soldiers told them, ‘We will rape you until you do not want sexual contact with any other man. We will prevent you from having Ukrainian children.'”
Lyudmyla Denisova says that their help and support lines received many calls, and they were also reached via messaging applications such as Telegram:
“A 25-year-old woman told us that her 16-year-old brother was raped in front of her on the street in front of her. The rapists shouted, ‘This will be the end of every Nazi prostitute’.”
We asked Denisova if it was possible to ascertain the extent of sexual crimes committed by Russian soldiers during the occupation.
Her response was, “This is still not possible. Because not everyone wants to tell what happened to them. Most of these women call us for psychological support. Therefore, it is not possible for us to record what was done to them as a crime unless they give a statement to us.”
Denisova said Ukraine wanted the United Nations to establish a special tribunal. Kiev’s request is for this court to try Russian President Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes, including rape.
Anna, who told us she was raped, said, “I want to ask Putin, why is this happening?” said and added:
“I don’t understand. We don’t live in the Stone Age. Why can’t we negotiate? Why is Putin invading and killing?”