(Warning: Distressing content) Men report being tasered in the genitals with a Soviet-era field telephone.
Putin’s soldiers have committed ‘abhorrent’ sexual violence against Ukrainians, a UN report finds (Image: Getty)
Victims of “abhorrent” sexual violence carried out by Russians involved in Vladimir Putin‘s war against Ukraine include a four year old girl and a woman aged 82 who both survived rape, a UN report has found. About 1,004 cases of sexual violence have been recorded since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, up to July this year.
Of this number, 89% were blamed on Russia‘s armed forces, prison service and national security service, according to the UN Human Rights Office report. The remainder have been attributed to Ukrainians.
Most victims of sexual violence in the Russia-Ukraine war are men, the UN report says (Image: Getty)
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said: “I am deeply alarmed by the prevalence of these abhorrent acts documented in our report, and fear that they are almost certainly continuing amid the unceasing violence we are witnessing every day in Ukraine.”
The report found most victims were men, with some saying they were electrocuted or beaten in the genitals. Other violations included gang rape, rape, genital mutilation and other degrading sex acts.
Many of the men said they were tasered in the genitals using a Soviet-era military field telephone known as a “tapik”.
The report says: “The application of electric shocks to genitals with a ‘tapik’ or taser was a common form of sexual violence used against Ukrainian POWs and retained medical personnel, with 155 having endured this form at least once”.
In harrowing personal accounts, Ukrainians described being raped with a baton, the handle of a shovel and cell door keys in three separate incidents.
A woman said one Russian soldier raped her several times a week for a month after moving into her home in Zaporizhzhia.
The sexual predator told her that her husband would receive better treatment in detention as a result.
Another woman said two Russian soldiers broke into her home in the Kyiv region in 2022 and gang raped her after shooting her husband dead.
They threatened to shoot her in front of her son, who was four years old at the time, if she put up a fight.
Nearly half of the violations on the Ukrainian side against Russian POWs and others were made up of threats of sexual violence, according to the report.
Others included forced nudity, electric shocks and beatings to private parts, two cases of attempted rape and two sexual assaults.
The report notes that Ukraine has taken “concrete steps” to address violations by its personnel, but these remain “limited”.
Mr Türk said: “Russia and Ukraine must investigate all credible claims of sexual violence – promptly, thoroughly and impartially – and ensure those found responsible are fully brought to justice regardless of rank or affiliation.”
He renewed a call on Russia to ends its war against Ukraine and withdraw its forces from the country.
Migrants just received £11.9bn of Universal Credit – that’s not even most shocking thing
Migrant households have been handed more than £10bn in Universal Credit, Aaron Newbury reveals how Andy Burnham could turn that to his advantage.
Andy Burnham (Image: Getty)
How long can a state last when the number of those financially dependent on it exceeds the number contributing to its coffers? Such a question surely must not be far from the minds of our political leaders. After all, the data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) reports make it seem as if the cliff’s edge is fast approaching.
Earlier this year, the scale of the benefits crisis was laid bare when statistics revealed that about 53.3% of the population take away more than they pay in. Yet as ever, it appears misery begets misery, and for the boffins of Whitehall, the latest development in that miserable state of affairs only deepens the challenges they must overcome.
Now, Daily Express readers are faced with the stark reality that the amount of British taxpayers’ cash handed out to foreign nationals in Universal Credit has broken £10billion. That means around one in every six households that received the handout are foreign nationals, which has predictably sparked fury from the Conservative benches, and sent Reform UK’s contingent into a tizzy.
If those on the Labour side cannot fathom why this might be, they might want to head to their constituencies and ask their voters what they make of it. Those Britons might make note of the fact that the bill has soared by some £4.4bn in just two years – something which leaves many questions yet to be answered. It’s shocking.
Even as rumours swirl in Westminster that the Treasury is greedily eyeing further ways to improve its finances at the expense of our own, we are being told that billions are being spent on those born on other shores.
Few in the UK believe a safety net for the unfortunate should be removed. But many will baulk at the idea that those born overseas should benefit from the work and taxation of working Britons.
We are hardly a country that can boast of a vastly productive economy, coffers overflowing with rivulets of wealth, and all the domestic ills put soundly to bed. Speak to anyone, and they can tell you of lacklustre transport, underfunded local services and an NHS ever hungry for further investment. That’s not to mention the black hole in the national defence budget, which has led to alarm bells from former defence chiefs warning that the country is defenceless.
Before contemplating which other taxes to increase, Andy Burnham and his newly minted Chancellor, John Healey, would do well to take even a cursory look at the excessive abuse of the benefits system. While that goes against the natural instinct of the socialist, who are ever loath to suggest that the instruments of government may well be out of tune with the rest of us, it would serve them well.
Yes, a broader sweep through the ruinously expensive welfare state, the seeds of which were planted and watered by successive Labour governments, is needed. But I fear it would be foolish to think Eyelashes Andy is the man to do it.
His own particular brand of popularity, which, like most socialist operators, consists of taking from the productive to fund ever-growing handouts, prohibits a more constructive look at the system. He still has an easy win before him.
At the stroke of a pen, Mr Burnham could command that foreign nationals cannot receive Universal Credit. Undoubtedly, this would agitate the London lawyers, who would swiftly tut and huff dissapointedly, but it would be well received by the millions of hard-working Britons who struggle with the question: Why should my taxes be handed to foreign recipients?