Social Science - Sociology Assignment 10

Russian Soldiers Raping Women, Ukraine Claims

By Gerrard Kaonga On 3/4/22 at 2:27 PM EST

Newweek

Russian soldiers, pressing forward with their invasion of Ukraine, have been accused of raping women, by a resident of the occupied city of Kherson and by Ukraine's foreign minister.

Kherson resident Svetlana Zorina, speaking to CNN on Friday, highlighted the fear the local people feel now that Russian soldiers occupy the southern city. She said she had heard of an incident of a woman being raped and killed by a Russian soldier.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also alleged on Friday that there had been "numerous cases" of Russian soldiers raping women in Ukraine, according to a Reuters report. However, so far, there has been no evidence to support either claim.

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The U.N. Security Council noted in a 2008 resolution that women and girls were particularly targeted by the use of sexual violence in wars, "including as a tactic of war to humiliate, dominate [and] instil fear."

Although rape is common during wars, accusations of rape can also be used as a propaganda tool to vilify the enemy and this tactic has been used in past conflicts.

A snippet of the interview with Zorina has been posted on social media by CNN journalist Nora Neus.

"Our resistance now is to just sit at home and take care of ourselves," she said.

"We are scared, they already started to rape our women. There was information from people who I personally know, that a 17-year-old girl, it's happened to her and then they killed her.

"So we are terrified and scared but we are not going to give up."