Ukrainian woman fleeing Gershon accuses two Russian soldiers of raping her for 13 hours

Many human rights groups have condemned the use of force in Ukraine as a weapon of war.

Elena * (name has been changed) is located Zaporoji, This Ukrainian city, which is gathering thousands of refugees from the south and east of the country, was devastated by the fighting. The young blonde woman also left her home in the Gerson area on the first day of the Russian attack. She is waiting for the bus to pick her up VinnitsiaFurther west, where his four children are.

Without showing her face, and with often emotion in her voice, Elena decided to testify. She claims to have been raped by two Russian soldiers for thirteen hours after she was identified by residents as the wife of a Ukrainian soldier. Her husband has been fighting pro-Russian separatists in the Donbass region for two years.

“This is a Pandorovka”

“At 3pm, I went to a grocery store. While I was standing in line, Russian soldiers came and started chatting with customers,” he says. The young Ukrainian woman suddenly notices that she is being referred to as “this is a Panterovka”, referring to Stephen Bandera, the Ukrainian ultranationalist leader who collaborated with Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union.

“This war was started by people like her, she’s the wife of a soldier,” she asks. She says she is in a hurry to return to the shelter, but two Russian soldiers follow her.

“I did not have time to enter. Two Russian soldiers entered through the back door. I did not have time to pick up my phone to call for help or anything,” Elena continues.

Raped for thirteen hours

“Without saying a word, they pushed me on the bed, crushed me with a submachine gun and stripped me naked,” the young woman said in tears.

Elena claims that two soldiers raped her for almost thirteen hours. “Sometimes they don’t talk except to call me ‘Panterovka’ or to say ‘your way’ to each other,” she explains passionately. The young woman never spoke to anyone, not even to a doctor or psychologist, not even to her family. “I was a midwife, I did first aid myself,” he explains.

“I’m frustrated, I do not want to live anymore,” said the young mother.

Rape is a weapon of war

“I hope Ukraine will retake these territories from the Russian soldiers and I hope we will retaliate against them,” Elena promises to conclude. Although many human rights organizations fear that rape in Ukraine will be used as a weapon of war, it is difficult to gather evidence to obtain justice later.

“Hundreds, thousands of women and young women may have been raped,” said Alyona Krivulyak, head of the Ukrainian branch. NGO La Strata, Which protects the rights of women. and practices condemned by kyiv authorities.