Russian army using rape as a ‘deliberate’ strategy in Ukraine, claims UN envoy

Rape and sexual assaults have been used as a deliberate part of Russian “military strategy” in Ukraine, according to a UN envoy.

UN envoy Pramila Patten said that Moscow’s forces were using a "deliberate tactic to dehumanise the victims”.

“When you hear women testify about Russian soldiers equipped with Viagra, it’s clearly a military strategy,” she told news agency AFP.

According to Ms Patten, the UN has verified over 100 cases of rape and sexual assaults in Ukraine since Russia invaded in February.

A UN report, released in late September, confirmed crimes against humanity and gathered testimonies from victims of sexual violence who ranged in age from four to 82-years old.

Victims were mostly women and girls, but men and boys were also affected.

Ms Patten added however that it is very hard to have reliable statistics “during an active conflict.”

She explained: “numbers will never reflect reality, because sexual violence is a silent crime" that is largely underreported.

The news comes as leaders of G7 countries promised to“hold President Putin and those responsible to account,” from war crimes in Ukraine.

Prime Minister Liz Truss and allies from the G7 democracies condemned the most recent wave of Russian air strikes on Ukrainian civilians in the “strongest possible terms.”

She added that “indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilian populations constitute a war crime.”

The blasts came after a barrage which killed 19 and injured many more people in cities which included Ukraine’s capital Kyiv on Monday.

After crisis talks the G7 leaders put out a statement in which they vowed to “hold President Putin and those responsible to account”.