Photo by Ivan Zakharenko | Irpin, a suburb of Kyiv. March 10, 2022 | A female soldier rescues her child.
Russia systematically uses rape and sexual violence as warfare tactics—everywhere, and with shocking brutality. In the village of Oleksandrivka, near Kherson city, two girls aged 12 and 15 years were raped by Russian troops. An infant girl of six months was raped with a teaspoon. Twin toddler boys, 2 years old, were sexually assaulted in front of their mother: five Russian soldiers broke in, and four of them raped the toddlers in pairs, orally and anally, while the fifth soldier held the mother off. Both children died of ruptures and blood loss. In another case of sexual violence, a three-year-old toddler boy was raped in front of his mother by two soldiers. This child also died of injuries sustained in the brutal assault.