Russian Troops Accused Of Burning Swastikas Onto Ukrainian Abuse Victims' Skin Amid War Crimes Inquiry

As Russia’s invasion and war against Ukraine continues on the second month of fighting, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other prominent Ukrainians have accused the Russian army on Tuesday, April 5, of different war crimes, including the rape and branding of young girls.

In an address to the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday, Zelensky has made broad claims accusing Russian troops of different war crimes committed during the conflict, highlighting the similarities of some of the atrocities to the actions of past terrorist groups around the world, according to the New York Post.

“They cut off limbs, slashed their throats… Their tongues were pulled out only because the aggressor did not hear what they wanted to hear from them,” he said. “This is no different from other terrorists, such as Daesh [ISIS]. Here it is done by a member of the United Nations Security Council.”

Among the crimes that the Russians have been accused of perpetrating is the rape and branding of a 10-year-old girl, which Ukrainian Member of Parliament Lesia Vasylenk exposed on her Twitter account, WION reported.

“Russian soldiers loot, rape and kill. 10 y.o. girls with vaginal and rectal tears. Women with swastika shaped burns. Russia. Russian Men did this. And Russian mothers raised them. A nation of immoral criminals,” she wrote in a tweet.

She also shared photographs of at least one girl who was branded a swastika on her back with an unknown tool or implement, before also tweeting: “Tortured body of a raped and killed woman. I'm speechless.”

The Ukrainian government and intelligence agencies have also released aerial footage of many dead civilians in the suburb of Bucha in Kyiv, including one that shows Russian soldiers executing a man who was simply riding a bicycle past them, according to the Daily Beast.

As the purported war crimes committed by Russia during the conflict continue to escalate, Zelensky promised that an “internal mechanism” will be created so that Ukrainian officials will be able to hunt down Russian soldiers who committed war crimes against the population.

“Prosecutors of various nations will deal with all of these crimes… They see a great deal of evidence. And, unfortunately, the evidence will only keep coming—there will not be any less,” Zelensky said.