So far, the prosecutor’s office has already opened 154 cases of sexual violence against peaceful Ukrainian residents by the Russian occupiers.

Journalists of the American edition of the New York Times published an investigation of sexual violence against peaceful Ukrainian residents in the de-occupied territories by Russian soldiers.

In particular, there is evidence that Russian commanders knew about the rapes or even encouraged them, the NYT writes with reference to Iryna Didenko, a representative of the prosecutor’s office in the case of sexual violence. In some cases, according to Didenko, they gave orders to rape or gave instructions to “go and relax”.

Didenko says that there is a clear pattern of behavior when Russian troops occupy a territory: “Ground troops arrive and on the second or third day rapes begin.”

In one of the cases described in the investigation, the commander allowed the soldiers to enter the apartment building while he remained outside. At the same time, a soldier could be heard saying: “We’ll just beat this one, and we’ll rape this one.” In another case, eight Russian soldiers raped a man who was stopped at a checkpoint.

According to Didenko, a total of 154 cases of rape have been officially established. However, the prosecutor believes that in reality there are many more such cases. For example, in one of the previously occupied villages of the Kyiv region, psychologists found that every ninth woman was subjected to sexual violence.

According to prosecutors and city authorities, rape victims are reluctant to talk about what happened, and the situation worsens amid the war, as they may be accused of collaborating with the Russian army.

Most cases of sexual violence were found in Kherson region

A special mobile group recorded 64 cases of sexual violence by the Russian occupiers in the de-occupied part of the Kherson region. This is more than in other liberated regions of Ukraine.

There are known cases when Russian servicemen raped a woman in the Kherson region for four months. Another local resident has been systematically exposed and tortured since March – she was doused with boiling water.