Ukrainian women raped at gunpoint by Russian soldiers, many pregnant after being confined to basement: Reports

Pic courtesy: Reuters

Kyiv: The Ukrainian police on Tuesday said that they launched a war crimes investigation after a 64-year-old man was killed by a mine left behind in an area from which Russian forces recently retreated. Meanwhile, the departure of Russian forces from Kyiv's outskirts has brought to light harrowing allegations of war crimes including executions and rape of civilians. While Moscow has dismissed the allegations as Ukrainian and Western provocations and has also accused Ukrainian forces of sexual violence.

Horrifying details of the alleged torture of Ukrainian women have come to light. In an interview to BBC, 50-year-old Anna was quoted as saying, "At gunpoint, he (a foreign soldier who barged in) took me to a house nearby. He ordered me: 'Take your clothes off or I'll shoot you.' He kept threatening to kill me if I didn't do as he said. Then he started raping me." She later went on to add that four more soldiers came and took her husband who was later found shot dead.

Senior UN official Sima Bahous told the Security Council on Monday that while all allegations must be independently investigated, "the brutality displayed against Ukrainian civilians has raised all red flags". "We are increasingly hearing of rape and sexual violence," she was quoted by Reuters.

There have also been reports - not verified independently by Zee News - that in the city of Bucha, women and girls have been kept hostage, and who have been raped systematically, leaving several of them even pregnant!

Meanwhile, Russia's deputy UN ambassador denied the allegations and accused Ukraine and allies of "a clear intention to present Russian soldiers as sadists and rapists." Russia's defence ministry said Ukraine's government was being directed by the United States to sow false evidence of Russian violence against civilians despite what it cast as Moscow`s "unprecedented measures to save civilians."

(With Agency inputs)