Men And Boys Among Alleged Rape Victims Of Russian Soldiers In Ukraine: Report

Patten urged the survivors to come forward and the international community to find perpetrators and hold them responsible.

Ukrainian soldiers patrol in the frontline of Mykolaiv after Russian shelling over a village (Getty Images)

New Delhi: Officials of the United Nations and Ukraine have said that men and boys were among those allegedly raped by Russian soldiers in the war-torn country, The Guardian reported. Pramila Patten, UN special representative on sexual violence in war, said dozens of such cases of sexual violence by the Russian forces were already under investigation and it was "only represent the tip of the iceberg".

"I have received reports, not yet verified ... about sexual violence cases against men and boys in Ukraine," Pramila Patten said at a press conference in Kyiv. The UN special representative said it can be particularly challenging for male rape survivors to report the crime.

“It's hard for women and girls to report (rape) because of stigma amongst other reasons, but it's often even harder for men and boys to report ... we have to create that safe space for all victims to report cases of sexual violence,” The Guardian quoted Patten as saying.

Patten urged the survivors to come forward and the international community to find perpetrators and hold them responsible.

“Today's documentation will be tomorrow's prosecution," she said warning that dozens of sexual violence cases that are under investigation so far “only represent the tip of the iceberg”.

Ukraine’s prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova said that her office had collected reports of sexual violence by the Russian troops against men and women of all ages, from children to elderly people, reported The Guardian.

Stating that Moscow had used rape as a deliberate strategy, Venediktova said: “This is, of course, to scare civil society ... to do everything to (force Ukraine to) capitulate.”

Venediktova, who was speaking at a news conference earlier on Tuesday in the shattered Kyiv suburb of Irpin, one of a cluster of small towns whose names have become synonymous with Russian war crimes, said there have been few public accounts of sexual violence in Ukraine.

“Some victims have left the country, and others who have stayed are frightened of speaking about their experience,” Venediktova added.