Baby boy, 1, dies after being raped by Russian soldiers, Ukraine claims

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A one-year-old boy has died after he was raped by two Russian soldiers, Ukraine claims.

Horrific reports from the Kharkiv region have emerged since invaders were pushed back during the week.

Russian troops in the wider city, as well as surrounding towns and villages, were forced to ‘regroup’ after Ukraine regained control.

They left a trail of devastation in their wake, including allegations of rape and sexual assault.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence said in a tweet yesterday: ‘Today, in just one hour, 10 reports of rape by the [Russian] occupiers, including 8 children, were received from newly liberated villages in the Kharkiv region.

‘Yesterday – 56 reports.

‘Among the children: two 10-year-old boys and a one-year-old boy who died of his injuries.’

Lyudmyla Denisova, the Ukrainian Parliament’s Commissioner for Human Rights, said a new report detailed the crimes in full.

The document also accuses Russian soldiers of raping two men, aged 67 and 78.

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On Friday, she tweeted: ‘This is a very small part of territory that was liberated from Russians, compared to those towns, villages and cities that are still under the occupation.

‘We can only imagine the number of such atrocities in Kherson, Melitopol, Mariupol, Berdyansk, and others.’

Elsewhere, a Russian soldier has been arrested for allegedly raping a baby, while a 14-year-old girl who was raped by five men in Bucha is now pregnant.

Since Vladimir Putin invaded on February 24, multiple reports have come out about similar atrocities across Ukraine.

Experts told Metro.co.uk these rapes are not ‘randomised, individual, opportunistic acts’ but part of a Russian ‘strategy of terror to instil fear’.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed for further prosecution of Russian war criminals, after the first trial began this week.

Sergeant Vadim Shishimarin, 21, has been accused of shooting an unarmed civilian with a Kalashnikov assault rifle through an open car window.

He faces life in prison under a section of the Ukrainian criminal code addressing the laws and customs of war.

And in his night-time address last night, Mr Zelensky described plans for a ‘multi-lateral agreement’ to ensure Russia pays ‘compensation’ for the devastation caused in Ukraine.

He said: ‘We are working to ensure that Russia compensates in one way or another for everything it has destroyed in Ukraine.

‘Every burned house. Every ruined school, ruined hospital. Each blown up house of culture and infrastructure facility. Every destroyed enterprise. Every shut down business, every hryvnia lost by people, enterprises, communities and the state.’

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