Europe | Rob, rape, retreat

Fresh evidence shows how grim life is under Russian occupation in Ukraine

Military police reports from Izyum describe everyday acts of brutality

Emergency workers dig into the grave of a civilian during an exhumation in the recently retaken area of Izium, Ukraine, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022. Ukrainian authorities discovered a mass burial site near the recaptured city of Izium that contained hundreds of graves. It was not clear who was buried in many of the plots or how all of them died, though witnesses and a Ukrainian investigator said some were shot and others were killed by artillery fire, mines or airstrikes. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Sep 22nd 2022

RAISA (NOT HER real name) appears from behind a tall wooden fence to confirm the details of the police report. The 73-year-old clutches the lace of her white dress as she recounts the events of a night in mid-June. She woke to the sound of Russian soldiers in her home, she said. One of them gestured to the others to leave and introduced himself as Alexander, a 22 year-old from Vladivostok. He had been drinking. Would she let him buy her house? Russia paid him well, and if not “I’ll kill you and the house will be mine anyway.” Suddenly, he grabbed her and forced himself on top of her. After ten minutes of what he appeared to think was intercourse (but was not, Raisa says), the soldier got up and asked where he could find younger women. On his way out he said he would booby-trap the door with grenades.

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