Rapes and sexual attacks attributed to Moscow’s forces in Ukraine are a part of a Russian “navy strategy” and a “planned tactic to dehumanise the sufferers”, UN envoy Pramila Patten informed AFP in an interview. “All the symptoms are there,” the UN unique consultant on sexual violence informed AFP on Thursday, whilst requested if rape become getting used as a weapon of battle in Ukraine. “When girls are held for days and raped, while you begin to rape little boys and guys, while you see a chain of genital mutilations, while you listen girls testify approximately Russian squaddies prepared with Viagra, it is simply a navy strategy,” she stated. “And whilst the sufferers record what become stated all through the rapes, it’s far simply a planned tactic to dehumanise the sufferers.” The United Nations has verified “extra than one hundred instances” of rape or sexual attacks in Ukraine considering the fact that Russia invaded in February, Ms Patten stated, regarding a UN record launched in past due September. The record “showed crimes towards humanity devoted via way of means of the Russian forces, and in line with amassed testimonies, the age of the sufferers of sexual violence degrees from 4 to 82-years-old,” she stated. The sufferers are broadly speaking girls and girls, however additionally guys and boys, she added. But “suggested instances are simplest the end of the iceberg,” she added. “It’s very hard to have dependable records all through an energetic conflict, and the numbers will in no way replicate reality, due to the fact sexual violence is a silent crime” that is essentially underreported, she stated.