Ukraine and UNICEF have launched a telephone line for victims of sexual violence during the war. “During the first two weeks of April, helplines received a message about 400 rapes of children and adults by Russians,” said Lyudmila Denisova, Ukraine’s spokeswoman for human rights. Alarming statistics concerns only the districts of the Kyiv region.
– At the end of March, our military began to liberate the Kyiv region. People started calling from those areas saying they had been victims of sexual abuse. Together with UNICEF, we have launched a free psychological help line. From April 1 to April 14, there were 400 such calls. Of course, people continue to call, Denisova said in an interview with Suspilny TV.
Unimaginable crimes
are terrible cases. Psychologists say they have experienced violence, but what Russian soldiers did to our women, girls, children, old people and men was a hundred times worse, Denisova said.
The media, she said, only receive the stories of those who agree to be published. – But among those who turned to us, no one has yet dared to testify to the investigating authorities. Too little time had passed, she admitted.
According to psychologists who work with victims of rape, the perpetrators are mostly young people aged 20-25. Secondly, they do it publicly. Necessarily in front of other people and in groups. So that others can see how they are being bullied,” Denisova added.
child rape
– they’re holding a woman who refuses to let her 16-year-old sister be raped. She asks on her knees – do it to me. And they do it. That is why both women need help, the spokeswoman said.
She also recalled the story of an 11-year-old boy who was raped in front of his mother, as well as an 11-year-old girl who, after her injuries, “does not want to live.” – Mother calls and asks: what to do? Denisova said.