Rape hotline for victims of sex attacks by Russian troops in Ukraine gets 400 calls in a fortnight 

• Ukrainian rape hotline for victims of Russians troops got 400 calls in two weeks
• The five psychologists who operate the hotline ‘cannot cope with the load’ 
• Victims include adults and children, of both male and female genders 
• In Bucha, 25 victims aged 14 to 25 were ‘systematically’ raped while held captive 

A hotline for rape and sexual assault victims by Russian troops received 400 calls in just two weeks.

The Ombudsman for Human Rights in Ukraine, Lyudmyla Denisova, said the line is so overwhelmed that the five psychologists who operate it ‘cannot cope with the load’.

Victims include adults and children, both male and female, with some attacked while terrified relatives were forced to watch. 

In Bucha, 25 victims aged 14 to 25 were ‘systematically’ raped while being held captive in a basement. Nine are now pregnant.

Bucha, the town north of Kyiv where Russian occupying troops committed atrocities against Ukrainian residents. A hotlinie for rape and sexual assault victims by Russian troops received 400 calls in just two weeks

The line, set up with Unicef, received 400 calls between April 1 and April 14 as Russian began to withdraw from the Kyiv region, after a failed attempt to capture the capital.

Mrs Denisova said: ‘Our five psychologists cannot cope with this load.

‘I asked Unicef to almost double the number of psychologists, to ensure that the care is of good quality and that there is no burnout, including those psychologists who receive such appeals day and night. And these cases are very terrible.’

Russia has denied allegations it is using rape as a ‘weapon of war’.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this month: ‘Hundreds of cases of rape have been recorded, including those of young girls and very young children. Even of a baby.’

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