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Supplying Russian soldiers with Viagra and condoning the rape of Ukrainian women, men and children is being jointly criticised by the UN and Ukrainian Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk.
Their stories “simply break the heart, make the blood run cold in your veins.
“This war will go down in history as one in which Russia uses sexual violence as a weapon against Ukraine,” said Shevchuk.
Pramila Patten, Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, confirmed last week that rape is part of Russia’s “military strategy”.
It is a “deliberate tactic to dehumanise the victims,” Patten says.
“When women are held for days and raped when you start to rape little boys and men, when you see a series of genital mutilations when you hear women testify about Russian soldiers equipped with Viagra, it’s clearly a military strategy.”
Patten says the UN has verified over 100 cases of rape or sexual assault in Ukraine since Russia invaded in February.
Victims’ ages range from four to 82 years old.
“It’s very difficult to have reliable statistics during an active conflict, and the numbers will never reflect reality because sexual violence is a silent crime,” Patten observes.
“Reported cases are only the tip of the iceberg.”
On Monday this week, over 100 Ukrainian women were released from Russian captivity.
Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, says it was the first female-only exchange. It was “especially emotional and truly special,” he says.
“Mothers and daughters, whose relatives were waiting for them, were held captive.”
The next day, Shevchuk thanked God that the women were able to return to their families.
“Let us wrap these women together today with our attention, love and prayer, and warm them up with our national warmth,” he said.
Reflecting on recent Russian attacks on Ukraine, the archbishop noted in conditions of war, families find themselves in a sea of violence and malice that destroys a person.
“This war will go down in history as one in which Russia uses violence against the intimate sphere of a person as a weapon against Ukraine,” he said, citing statistics about rapes and pregnancies resulting from rape.
“It is impossible to imagine how much this violence against the intimate sphere of a person hurts the Ukrainian family, the dignity of men and women [and] destroys what the Lord God created for love.”
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