A 50-year-old lawyer from Kherson region endured kidnapping, beatings, and sexual violence by Russian soldiers. The woman managed to escape, walking to a Ukrainian checkpoint through minefields and a ruined bridge.
The American publication The New York Times reported on her story and other cases of sexual violence in the occupied territories.
After the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, the town where the woman lived came under occupation. In January 2023, armed men in masks detained her together with her husband, accusing them of a “threat to the security of the Russian Federation”, and announced their eviction. The husband was later taken to the front line in Zaporizhzhia region.
On the way she heard one of the soldiers say over the radio:
“You can take the man to dig trenches for you and chop wood. As for the woman — do with her whatever you want.”
The woman was brought to a farmer’s house where Russian soldiers were stationed. There she was forced into sexual slavery.
“They got drunk, beat me, and two soldiers raped me,” she said.
The next day she, wounded and exhausted, was found by a Russian major. He allowed her to walk to territory controlled by Ukraine.
Maria went through minefields, crawled through the ruins of a destroyed bridge, and reached a Ukrainian checkpoint.
“When I saw the first checkpoint, I fell to my knees. I hugged the soldiers and cried,” she recalls.
Because of her injuries, the woman could not walk for several weeks and stayed at home for a long time. She later received help from a support group for survivors of sexual violence and gave testimony to Ukrainian law enforcement. A criminal case has been opened based on her statement.
It is worth noting that, according to the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets, the largest number of cases of sexual violence by Russian military personnel has been recorded in Kherson region.