Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accuses Russian troops of ‘hundreds of rapes’

Volodymyr Zelensky said investigators had received reports of “hundreds of cases of rape”, including sexual assaults of small children.

A Russian soldier stands in front of an apartment building in Donetsk, which the Russian authorities say was damaged by Ukrainian shelling. Picture: Alexander NEMENOV / AFP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said investigators had received reports of “hundreds of cases of rape” in areas previously occupied by Russian troops, including sexual assaults of small children.

Russian troops have been accused of widespread atrocities across the country, particularly in areas around Kyiv from which they have now withdrawn.

Moscow denies the allegations.

“In areas freed from the occupiers, the recording and investigation of war crimes committed by Russia continues. Almost everyday we find new mass graves,” he told Lithuanian politicians via video link.

“Testimonials are being collected. Thousands and thousands of victims. Hundreds of cases of torture. Bodies continue to be found in drains and cellars,” he added.

“Hundreds of cases of rape have been recorded, including those of young girls and very young children. Even of a baby!”

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda responded to that last claim by saying, “It’s simply impossible to imagine a greater horror.”

Ukrainian investigators exhume bodies from a mass grave in the gardens of the St Andrew church in the town of Bucha, northwest of Kyiv. Picture: Genya SAVILOV / AFP

A man rides a bicycle by a Russian soldier standing guard in Volnovakhaa in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DNR). Picture: Alexander NEMENOV / AFP

Having documented victim accounts, human rights organisations say rape is being used as a “weapon of war” in Ukraine.

One Ukrainian woman told AFP that she was sexually assaulted by two Russian troops after they learned that her husband was a soldier.

Zelensky praised Lithuania as the first foreign country to show a tough response to Russia, following help arming Ukraine and after becoming the first member of the European Union to end its reliance on natural gas from Russia.

He said the European Union as a whole is still too hesitant in sanctioning Moscow.

“Even after those mass killings in Bucha, watching the planned destroyal of Ukrainian cities with the Russian missiles some of the European countries can’t decide whether it will limit the purchase if Russian energy,” Zelensky said.

Lithuania's President Gitanas Nauseda. Picture: Aris Oikonomou / AFP

A relative reacts after the body of a civilian was exhumed from a shallow grave near the village of Andriivka, Kyiv region. Picture: Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP

Meanwhile Ukrainian prosecutors said that six people had been found shot dead in the basement of a building outside Kyiv, the latest discovery fuelling allegations of Russian atrocities.

“The bodies of six civilians with gunshot wounds were found in a basement during an inspection of a private residence,” the prosecutor general said in a statement, adding that the killings took place in Brovary outside the capital Kyiv.

The killings were carried out by Russian forces who took control of the area at the beginning of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the prosecutor general said, publishing an image of what it said was the scene of the discovery with several bodies in a dark, concrete hole lit by a flashlight.