Activists protest wartime rape in front of the Russian consulate in New York on May 28.
Kyiv:
When war broke out in Ukraine and reports that Russian soldiers were using rape as a weapon of war, Yulia Sporish wasn’t sure she was the right person to help.
Urged by partners of Divchata, a small NGO working primarily on health education for girls, she set up a hotline in April to offer advice and support to victims.
High-level Ukrainian officials such as President Volodymyr Zelensky were accusing Russian soldiers of widespread and systematic sexual abuse and were ready to take calls from Divchata victims.
Yet after three months of war, the phone hardly rings.
“There’s still a huge, huge stigma,” Sporish told AFP.
“We have requests from relatives and volunteers,” she said, “but not directly from the victims”.
The invasion of Moscow has sparked a wave of allegations of sexual violence perpetrated by its troops in Ukraine.
Zelensky said in April that Russian troops retreating after trying to capture the capital Kyiv had left “hundreds” of rape victims, including children.
AFP has spoken to at least one woman in the south of the country who said she was raped by several Russian soldiers.
Kyiv announced this week that it was launching the first legal proceedings against one of Moscow’s soldiers for sexual violence.
‘So ashamed’
Still, activists helping those ravaged by rape must first persuade them to break their silence.
“For the most part, victims are unwilling to report to law enforcement and some of them are not even prepared to receive specialized medical treatment,” says La Strada attorney Yulia Anasova.
The well-known rights group, which also has a phone number for war rape victims, has received more than a dozen calls involving 17 people – including one man.
“He says he’s too ashamed to see a doctor,” Anasova told AFP.
Whoever arrived, he said, was raped by Russian soldiers, mostly in their own homes, but only three had filed an official complaint.
“They are even less prepared to go to the police than to seek medical treatment,” Anasova said.
The lawyer said Ukraine’s often poorly trained investigators have recently modernized how they operate, but still victims are subjected to numerous interrogations and medical examinations that violate international recommendations.
Deputy Interior Minister Katerina Pavlichenko said a dedicated police unit operating in the Kyiv region had identified 13 victims of alleged sexual abuse by Russian soldiers.
‘Information, not emotion’
Military psychologist Natalia Zaratska believes that it is too early for the police to go out in search of victims.
“It would make more sense to talk to him in six months, when his memories are better handled,” she told AFP. “For a criminal investigation, you need information, not emotion.”
Still, Zaratska believes there is “urgent” work to be done. She understands that victims need support, but she also believes “they will not come to us”.
“Then we have to go to them.”
That’s why she is booked at least three times a week outside Kyiv, a city whose name is now synonymous with harsh accusations of atrocities committed by Russian soldiers, including summary executions.
Silent talk of sexual violence perpetrated by Russian soldiers has spread to all corners of the city, where residents were shot to death with their hands tied behind their backs after being evacuated from their capture.
“A doctor told me that for a month, ambulances only picked up women who had this problem,” plumber Volodymyr Strillets, 45, told AFP in Buka.
Andrei Halvin, the priest who presides over the local Orthodox Church, is navigating the best way to conduct conversations with believers.
‘It’s best not to talk about it’
“It’s best not to talk about it,” he told AFP in Buka, dressed in black clerical clothes. “People have to move on with their lives”.
He sought to assure the congregation that the victims had not violated their trust.
“I have to tell them that being raped is not a sin.”
Zaratska, a military psychologist, said she began visiting Buka to talk to residents about her experience of Russian occupation and was soon sent to rape victims.
She said the volume of complaints meant that three psychologists working in this field were nowhere near enough. “12 or 16” is needed, Zaratska said.
Again, she said, victims were often hesitant to talk about their experience.
“It’s only when they’re around someone who understands that in times of war, rape is a form of torture,” she said.
He said he also needed to be assured that his testimony would be handled with sensitivity.
Several authorities have controversially made public graphic details of rape and sexual abuse allegations, including Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, who stepped down after describing an incident in which a young girl was thrown from a kitchen utensil. was violated.
“It’s completely unethical,” Zaratska said. “It could lead to a second blow. If society had been more sensitive to the issue, we could have heard more from the victims.”
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)