A Ukrainian woman walks pass destroyed Russian armour in the city of Bucha. Gang-rapes, assaults at gunpoint, and rapes in front of children are among the grim testimonies collected by investigators. (Image: Atef Safadi/EPA)
“I Wanted To Die”- Ukrainian Mother Of Four Recounts How Two Russian Soldiers Raped Her For 12 Hours
A Ukrainian mother of four has revealed harrowing details of how she endured a 12-hour rape ordeal at the hands of two Russian soldiers.
Elena (not her real name) was attacked on Sunday April 3 after a Russian sympathiser in the southern Kherson region snitched on her and sold her out to the troops, saying her husband was a Ukrainian soldier, Daily Mail reported.
On one fateful day, Elena, who is a midwife by profession, was in a shop then the Russian soldiers stormed in and began talking to customers. One of the customers then pointed at her and said, ‘She’s a banderovka!’ – a term referring to Ukrainian wartime nationalist leader Stepan Bandera, who collaborated with the Nazis to fight Russia.
‘I quickly left the shop. I just had time to get into my house. Two Russian soldiers came in through the door after me. Without a word, they pushed me on to the bed. They held me down with a rifle and stripped me. They didn’t say much. Sometimes they called me ‘banderovka’ or they said ‘your turn’ to each other. Then, at 4am, they left. I don’t want to live,’ said a tearful Elena.
However, she has vowed not to let this pass and she will seek revenge on the person who sold her out to the Russian soldiers: “I will point the finger at the people who singled me out. I will point them out to my husband.”
Elena is just one of the many women being sexually assaulted in Ukraine. In Brovary, an eastern suburb of Kyiv, Russian soldiers raped a woman in front of her underage child, Guardian revealed.
Ukraine’s prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova said Russian servicemen have been raping Ukrainians indiscriminately: “Russian soldiers have committed sexual violence against Ukrainian women and men, against children and against the elderly.”
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