KEY POINTS

  • A Russian soldier, 19, allegedly raped and injured a Ukrainian mother, 27, in the village of Mala Rohan 
  • Russian officers arrested the soldier and claimed they would shoot him in the woods
  • The execution would not be recorded, and the soldier's family would be told he died fighting the Ukrainians

A Russian soldier allegedly raped and injured a Ukrainian woman in a village previously occupied by Russian forces.

The 19-year-old trooper, identified only as Vladimir, was drunk when he arrived at a school in the northeastern Ukrainian village of Mala Rohan at midnight on March 13, The Independent reported.

Around 40 people remained at the school out of the 100 that initially gathered to hide from the prolonged bombing of the village, which was seized by Russian forces on Feb. 25, the day after Russia started invading Ukraine.

Vladimir allegedly grabbed a 27-year-old Ukrainian woman from the group at gunpoint and dragged her to a room on the second floor of the school while her 5-year-old daughter cried in fear.

"He had been drinking all day before he raped the poor girl. He was out of control. This was happening a bit; there didn’t seem to be much discipline among the Russian troops," Sergei, a 55-year-old villager, was quoted as saying.

The woman was able to return at around 7 a.m. after she was repeatedly raped and injected with what Vladimir claimed was a painkiller that night, the victim's mother claimed.

"He raped her, and cut her around the face and neck with a knife. He also cut off some of her hair. My daughter cannot speak about this anymore, she has been so badly affected by what happened," the mother said.

Vladimir allegedly told other soldiers that the woman had gone to the room with him willingly, but residents said that was a lie.

Before the incident, Vladimir allegedly waved a pistol at the school. He also ordered everyone to kneel while threatening to shoot them.

Vladimir also took a man away for around half an hour and forced him to engage in a spree of smashing shop windows with iron rods.

Russian officers arrested Vladimir with the help of Sergei following the alleged rape, and the teen soldier later disappeared.

"A couple of the officers said that the soldier would be shot — this would be done out in the woods. There would be no official record. The guy’s family would be told that he had been killed fighting the Ukrainians," Sergei said.

Three other villagers verified Sergei's account.

Ukrainian authorities have since retaken Mala Rohan.

The villagers’ allegations came after Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova launched an investigation into an incident in the Ukrainian district of Brovary that involved a Russian soldier accused of raping a woman.

A local resident speaks to a service member of pro-Russian troops outside an apartment building damaged during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine March 31, 2022.
A local resident speaks to a service member of pro-Russian troops outside an apartment building damaged during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine March 31, 2022. Reuters / ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO