Warfare in Ukraine, CNN’s stunning report on torture and rape of Russian troopers –

Russia’s armed forces use sexual violence as a weapon of warfare. Towards ladies, but additionally towards Ukrainian males, civilians and troopers, within the occupied territories following the assault launched on 24 February 2022. That is what emerges from the chilling tales of the survivors advised to CNN, who converse of the usage of electroshock in genital areas in addition to the specter of rape with glass bottles, and imposed nudity. Ukrainian prosecutor Anna Sosonska, head of the division on sexual violence within the Ukrainian battle for the Genital Prosecutor’s Workplace, additionally speaks of “genital mutilation, rape, the duty for males to witness sexual violence on different males.” However amongst sexual violence “on the high of the listing is the usage of electroshock within the male genital space”. «We now have seen it many and lots of occasions within the occupied areas. They use the identical methodology to commit sexual violence, the identical methodology of humiliation, the identical strategy to the victims”, declares Sosonska talking of “systematic and steady use of sexual violence” by the Russian army.

That is confirmed by the testimonies collected by CNN, reminiscent of that of Roman Shapovalenko, arrested on 25 August 2022 in Kherson for having known as Russian troopers “ogres”. Subjected to sexual violence throughout seven months of detention in a “punishment cell”, he was additionally threatened with sterilization. “They appeared to have a type of genital fetishism. Generally they opened the door and stated ‘We’ll take out our truncheons and rape everybody right here,'” the 39-year-old agricultural entrepreneur stated.

A 29-year-old Ukrainian intelligence officer often called ‘Omen’ described being tortured as much as 3 times a day, day by day, for 4 months. And he added that officers from the Russian GRU, the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service and the FSB, Russia’s primary intelligence company, took half within the torture. «They laughed whereas they tortured me. They threatened me with rape. They advised me that my mom was being raped by the Chechens and twice they took me to the place the place they have been alleged to shoot me”, he says. Though tough to report, much more so by male victims, the newest UN Safety Council report on conflict-related sexual violence states that 85 instances have been documented in Ukraine in 2023, affecting 52 males, 31 ladies, one lady and a boy. One other report by UN human rights officers interviewing 60 male Ukrainian prisoners of warfare following their launch discovered that 39 of them had been victims of sexual violence whereas in Russian detention. CNN’s testimonies have been collected from Kherson, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv and Crimea.