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05th Apr 2022

Woman ‘raped and killed by Russian troops who branded her corpse with swastika’

Charlie Herbert

Warning: Some readers will find details in this story disturbing

There have been increasing reports of atrocities committed by Russian troops

A Ukrainian MP has shared an image she says shows a murdered woman with a swastika branded across her body in Ukraine, in what appears to be another example of Russian war crimes.

It is not clear exactly when or where the image of the woman’s branded body was taken.

Lesia Vasylenko – a member of the liberal Holos party in Ukraine –  posted an image on Twitter of an exposed patch of torso with the Nazi symbol burned into the flesh.

She said it was the “tortured body of a raped and killed woman.”

Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko shared a picture of the atrocity on Twitter (@lesiavasylenko/Twitter)

In a later tweet, Vasylenko claimed that girls as young as 10 had been raped by Russian soldiers, labelling the country as a “nation of immoral criminals.”

Pro-Russian social media accounts,  MailOnline reports, have claimed the horrific act was carried out by Ukrainian neo-Nazis near Mariupol.

In recent days, more and more harrowing stories and images have emerged from Ukraine, detailing some of the atrocities committed by the invading Russian troops.

After Ukrainian forces pushed Russian troops out of areas surrounding Kyiv, such as Bucha and Irpin, journalists have been able to witness the devastation left behind, and the evidence of some of the horrific war crimes carried out by Russian soldiers.

Other reports and images show streets littered with the bodies of dead civilians who appear to have been killed with their hands tied behind their backs, suggesting mass civilian executions.

https://twitter.com/BowenBBC/status/1510525340078252033

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of genocide, with a number of world leaders condemning the atrocities.

French President Emmanuel Macron has said there were “clear indications of war crimes” after a mass grave was discovered in Bucha, whilst Boris Johnson has accused Russia of “despicable attacks in Ukraine.”

The British Prime Minister has promised funding and support to the International Criminal Court at The Hague to compile evidence for a war crimes tribunal, saying: “We will not rest until justice is served.”

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