About 400 Ukrainians appealed to the ombudsman because of rape by the occupiers - Denisova

Diana Krechetova, "Ukrainska Pravda. Zhyttia", 27 April 2022

From 1 to 14 April, the Ombudsman's Office received about 400 appeals of sexual violence by the Russian occupiers.

This was announced by the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova in an interview with "Suspline".

In particular, these were appeals of citizens from the temporarily occupied or already liberated territories. 

"There are such appeals from the Kherson region now. People tell [stories] from those territories where the [telephone] connection is restored. And if there is no network, how will they call us?" - Denisova asked. 

According to the Ombudsman, people began actively calling the emergency line for psychological help when the Ukrainian military began liberating the occupied cities of Kyiv region in late March.

Then hundreds of civilians were finally able to get out of the basements of Bucha, Irpin, Borodianka and other settlements. When asking for help, people admitted to being victims of sexual violence by Russian invaders.

About 400 such appeals were received in the first two weeks of April, and they continue to arrive, says Liudmyla Denisova.

The Commissioner admits that 5 psychologists of the Office are not coping with such a load.

"So I asked UNICEF to almost double the number of psychologists, to provide quality care and to avoid burnout, including those psychologists who receive such appeals day and night. And these cases are very terrible," she said.

The Office of the Ombudsman now faces the task of recording all the horrific facts of sexual violence, determining the compliance of Russia's actions with international humanitarian law and compliance with the Geneva Conventions and their protocols, so that it is possible to tell the world about these cases.

Denisova believes that sexual violence may affect the desire or even the ability of affected women and girls to have children in the future.

The ombudsman sees signs of genocide in such actions of the Russian invaders.

"There are also signs of genocide when children are taken out [to undefined territories of Russia] so that Ukraine has no future.

No children - no future, no Ukrainians. This is the genocide of the Ukrainian people," said the Commissioner for Human Rights.

Earlier, Liudmyla Denisova told about the atrocities of the Russians in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. In Irpin, in particular, the invaders raped the mother and younger sister in front of the girl, as a result both died.