It was on March 13 that soldiers “intoxicated with alcohol” entered the yard of a young family’s house, prosecutors claimed, committing most of the atrocities.
Ukraine
There are widespread allegations of abuse conducted by Russian soldiers during a more than the one-year invasion of Ukraine, including the sexual assault of a four-year-old girl and the gang rape of the girl’s mother in front of her father.
Developed by Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s war crimes office to help victims identify perpetrators of rape and other atrocities, this document shows a lineup of 12 Russian soldiers suspected of sexual violence in the Brovary district on the outskirts of Kyiv in March 2022.
The sex crimes were part of a pattern of sex crimes committed in four homes of Brovary district near the capital Kyiv in March 2022 by Russian soldiers of the 15th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade.
In the aftermath of Moscow’s failed invasion of Kyiv on February 24, army troops entered Brovary a few days later, looting and using sexual violence as a deliberate tactic to terrorize the population, Ukrainian prosecutors said.
“Women were specifically targeted and manipulated beforehand,” according to the prosecutors’ 2022 documents, which were based on interviews with survivors and witnesses.
A request for comment was not responded to by the Russian Defence Ministry. The brigade’s phone numbers were out of service. Media outlets contacted two officials from the Samara Garrison, where the brigade is assigned, who said they could not provide contact information, citing classified information.
It was on March 13 that soldiers “intoxicated with alcohol” entered the yard of a young family’s house, prosecutors claimed, committing most of the atrocities.
A metal pot was used to beat the father, then his wife was gang raped while he kneeled beside her. In the documents, the soldier is reported to have said he would “make her into a woman” before abusing the four-year-old.
Prosecutors said they are investigating murders and additional crimes that occurred during the same time frame, which have not yet been solved. Although the family survived.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government has denied allegations of atrocities in Ukraine, claiming they are fighting Western-backed “neo-Nazis”. Furthermore, military commanders have denied knowing about sexual violence committed by their soldiers.
Identified as Yevgeniy Chernoknizhniy and 32 years old, the soldiers were both snipers. The older one died, while the younger one returned to his homeland.
In response to a media outlet’s request for the identities of both soldiers, prosecutors only provided the name of the younger soldier. The person claiming to be Chernoknizhniy’s brother told the media outlet that he was deceased when the outlet called a number in an online database for him.
The man wept, “He’s dead. There’s no way you can find him.”. “That’s all that I can say.”
GROWING ACCUSATIONS
In an investigation dubbed the Brovary assaults, the two snipers are among six suspects accused of sexual abuse.
Prosecutors said the two soldiers also raped a 17-year-old girl and a 41-year-old pregnant woman after beating the girl and her parents.
An allegation was made that soldiers forced a 15-year-old girl and her mother into the kitchen, and then gang-raped them.
Prosecutors said that all the victims survived, and were being treated medically and psychologically.
In a case adding to growing allegations of systematic sexual abuse by Russian Soldiers, prosecutors said a pre-trial investigation into a Russian superior official is underway.
Although Ukrainian investigators know it is unlikely they will find and punish suspects, as trials are likely to be held absentia, the International criminal court is also involved in the prosecution of war crimes.
It is unlikely that Moscow will surrender suspects, however, those convicted in absentia may find themselves on international watchlists, making travel difficult.