by Lorenzo Cremonesi
The commander of the Kiev police: Even houses were burned down to hide evidence
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Kyiv “There was no conscious Russian policy of sexual violence against Ukrainian women. But we are investigating several cases that occurred in the capital region in March, said the commander of the police of the Kyiv regional district, General Andriy Nebytov. He himself is leading the investigation and received us in his office last night.
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How many cases can you find in your dossiers?
“We are investigating over twenty cases of possible sexual assault. I use the conditional on purpose because women and families in general are extremely reluctant to talk to investigators about it, as they try not to make their drama public. It’s a problem for us. We also found several bodies, mostly young women, who were found naked with obvious stab wounds and with their hands tied behind their backs. Our experts perform autopsies to see if they were injured before they were killed. The majority seems indeed to have been murdered after the rape or repeated rapes, perhaps by several soldiers ».
And how do you investigate when the living refuse to testify?
“We have the recordings of the phone calls. Women don’t come forward out of shame, but talk about it with friends and relatives. In addition, we have the tapes of conversations between Russian soldiers captured by our intelligence ».
Any specific and detailed cases?
“At least two. The first is that of Marina, 34, from the village of Bogdanivka near Brovary, east of Kyiv. Her husband, who tried to defend her, was killed immediately along with the family’s dogs, she was caught in front of the Eyes of her threeyearold son raped. Two Russians had also threatened to kill the child if she resisted. We also know the name of one of the rapists: Mikhail Romanov, who was apparently shot dead by his superiors when they found out about it. But maybe he was he was killed instead by our commandos. We are not sure, we are still trying to find the body. The second case concerns a resident of Borodianka, as discovered by a Ukrainian journalist from Radio Svoboda. But the victim did not want to speak to us, he asked to be forgotten».
Did the soldiers generally kill those trying to defend women?
“Yes, husbands, brothers or parents have been killed and in some cases they have burned down houses to cover up the evidence.”
Did the Russian commanders punish the rapists?
«From the wiretapping we learned that some Russian commanders shot the raping soldiers. Not all but some were executed ».
So that there was no deliberate Russian rape policy?
«Yes, I confirm, there was none. But we also know that about a week after the occupation began, the Russian high commands issued orders for the troops to shoot civilians trying to flee towards the Ukrainian lines, and certainly anyone who resisted their orders. Among the dead are women, men, the elderly and children. To date we have counted 764 civilians killed around Kyiv, including 36 children ».
What were they trying to achieve?
«They wanted to break all resistance with terror. This policy also aimed to disrupt humanitarian corridors and boycott our attempt to carry civilians to safety in our lines. The only alternative was to flee north to Belarus. But nobody wanted to be with the Russians or their allies.
Civilians tell us that the most cruel units were Chechens and Asian provinces.
“Yes, we call them “Buryats. There were Russians, Chechens and Asians, the latter being the worst. We have many prisoners, but we don’t know if there are rapists among them.”
Have you heard of raped children?
“These are rumours, but we have no evidence. Some humanitarian organizations and the Ministry of Interior are working on it. we can’t confirm.”
Do you think there are cases of rape in Mariupol or Donbass?
“I don’t know, but these are different scenarios. In the Kyiv area, after the occupation began, the rapes appear to have taken place during moments of relative calm, when Russian police units had even arrived. But in the other areas the fighting remains very active, it seems to me difficult to rape under bombs ».
It seems logical to conclude that the collapse of discipline among the Russian troops occurred a few days after the occupation began.
“I confirm. The Russians invade on February 24 and the first known case of sexual violence occurs on March 9. At first the soldiers were enthusiastic, believing that the war would be very short and that they would be welcome as liberators And actually everything had to be easy, their tanks had no air cover. From Belarus, their advance for 100 kilometers was a picnic, they passed Chernobyl and reached Hostomel, about 30 kilometers north of Kyiv. We studied them, our strategy was, to let them advance and then we bombarded them by any means possible. We know that few units were well trained, I’m talking about the helicopters, the artillery and little else. But the infantry were not at all ready and were the first to come in panic, which led to the dissolution and collapse of the discipline ».
April 14, 2022 (Change April 14, 2022 | 09:11)
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