‘Russian wives induce husbands to rape Ukrainian women’; Ukraine’s first lady Olena Zelenska claims!

Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine, claims that Russian soldiers are using rape and sexual assault as ‘weapons’ in their invasion of Ukraine. She demanded a ‘global reaction’ when speaking in London at a conference on preventing sexual assault during armed conflict, and she said that the wives of Russian military personnel encouraged their husbands to rape Ukrainian women.

According to a SkyNews article, Zelenska said that the invading forces were using sexual violence ‘systematically and publicly,’ which is an animalistic method of demonstrating dominance or supremacy. ‘The most heinous, animalistic method to demonstrate dominance over someone is through sexual assault. Additionally, because nobody feels secure during times of conflict, it is difficult for those who have experienced this sort of violence to testify ‘, Zelenska declared.

‘They (Russian military) are utilising this as another armament piece. They have this as yet another tool in their toolbox for this war and battle. They’re utilising it deliberately and publicly because of that’. She further claimed that they had ‘managed to catch’ phone calls in which the Russian military openly discussed rapes and other forms of sexual abuse.

According to Zelenska, even the spouses of these service members were aware of the atrocious behaviour and encouraged their husbands to take part in it. In reality, the wives of Russian service members support this behaviour, telling their husbands to ‘go on, rape those Ukrainian ladies, just don’t discuss this with me, just don’t tell me. This is why there has to be a global response to this’.

In the past several months, reports of sexual assault during this conflict have begun to surface. Last week, Wayne Jordash, a foreign criminal attorney aiding Kiev’s war crimes investigations, claimed there was evidence Russian leadership was aware of sexual assault by military personnel in Ukraine and ‘in some circumstances, (were) encouraging it or even directing it’. In Ukraine, victims of this abuse varied in age from four to over eighty, and in some cases, family members were compelled to watch the crime, according to a UN-backed study that was published in October.