In 2 weeks, 476 people from Kyiv and Kherson regions sought psychological help after being sexually abused by Russians. Hundreds of raped people remain in the cities from which the Russian army of rapists is driven out. These are women, girls and boys, completely unformed children, men, and even babies. Many victims of Russian violence are now pregnant by the occupiers. Many of the victims were pregnant by their husbands at the time of the rape by the Russians.
We have collected an interview with a military psychologist who works in hot spots, fragments of telephone conversations of Russian occupiers, and stories of victims of sexual violence.
“We have 5 people working on the hotline. I work constantly, and 4 girls change two weeks a week. There are approximately 85 calls on the line per week. That's a lot for 3 psychologists. Surviving the first week after the liberation of the Kyiv region was very difficult. And now messages from the Kherson region are starting to arrive. I’m scared to imagine what happened in Mariupol,” Oleksandra Kvitko, a psychoanalytic psychologist, works on the hotline at the ombudsman of Ukraine.
- There are 3 tankers. They took the girl and raped her.
- Who? Ours?
- Yes. 16-year-old girl. — the dialogue of the occupier with his Russian interlocutor.
Oleksandra Kvitko: “These are always men in military uniform with a covered face: in a balaclava or a bandage on the floor of the face. You can't see anything but the eyes. It's scary because when you know the rapist by sight, you at least think that you can identify him someday. And when the rapist is impersonal, then every man in the victim's mind becomes a potential rapist.”
"We were looking for food with my daughter. The girl was dressed in a jacket, a blouse, boots, and a bathrobe. We told her:" Russian tanks are coming, let's run away," and she replied, "I don't care." We asked: "Why?" and she replied: "The Russians caught me, blindfolded me, tied my hands, took me to the headquarters, and raped me as they wanted. I'm not afraid of anything anymore."
Olexandra Kvitko: “I work with a 14-year-old girl who was raped by 5 men. And now she's pregnant. Doctors say a medical abortion could make it impossible for her to have children in the future. Therefore, she is likely to keep the child. We are now working not even with the fact of gang rape but with her attitude towards the child. This is not an isolated case. Girls aged 14, 15, 16 are often raped. After the war, there will be many pregnant teenagers.”
“9 p. m, we already went to bed with my husband. Somebody knocked on a door. We open the door, and there are 3 invaders. They say: “You will go with us, and your husband will go to headquarters.” I am shaking with fear, I ask: “Will you kill us?” invaders answer: “If you do as we want, we won’t kill you.” I understand that there are many people like me, and I’m not alone. The Russians have done harm to many people.”
It should be understood that 476 people is the number of those who asked for help. A much larger number of people simply do not seek help because they are afraid of publicity and re-traumatization.
"You, go ahead, rape Ukrainian women there. Just use protection. And don't tell me anything."
We remind you that Putin awarded a horde of rapists from Bucha with a medal for courage.
