Al Jazeera :
The United Nations has demanded an independent investigation into rape and sexual violence in Ukraine, after allegations Russian troops committed such crimes during the continuing invasion of the neighbouring country.
“We are increasingly hearing of rape and sexual violence. These allegations must be independently investigated to ensure justice and accountability,” Executive Director for UN Women Sima Bahous told a UN Security Council briefing late on Monday.
“The combination of mass displacement with the large presence of conscripts and mercenaries, and the brutality displayed against Ukrainian civilians, has raised all red flags,” she said.
Bahous added she had recently returned from the Republic of Moldova, where she spoke to women and children arriving from Ukraine.
Kateryna Cherepakha, president of the La Strada organisation, which tackles gender-based violence, told the UN council via video call that “rape is used as a weapon of war by Russian invaders in Ukraine”.
Cherepakha said witnesses spoke of Russian officers carrying out rapes in front of children and family members and threatening the lives of their victims.
Russia has denied the allegations. “No convincing evidence has been presented for any of these crimes, but it’s understandable that you have trampled the presumption of innocence a long time ago,” Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russian deputy ambassador to the UN, told the council.
For his part, Ukraine’s UN ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya alleged Russia had disregarded the need to protect civilians in Ukraine and called for a full and transparent investigation of crimes against women and children.
Rights groups including Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International have spoken to witnesses describing similar crimes.
A HRW report last week said a 31-year-old woman was raped several times on March 13 by a Russian soldier, while sheltering together with her family in a school in the Kharkiv region.
The next day the woman fled to the city of Kharkiv, where she was able to get medical treatment and other services. The watchdog reviewed two photographs the woman took of her facial injuries.
