India
oi-Prakash KL
Tallinn, Apr 13: A small group of women in Tallinn in Estonia protested against the Russian aggression in Ukraine and the pictures of the protest have gone viral on social media sites.
Over 20 women gathered in front of the Russian embassy building on Pikk tänav to draw attention to Russian soldiers’ abuses of women and children in the worn-torn nation.
“In Tallinn, women arranged a demonstration next to the Russian embassy to protest against the mass rape of Ukrainian women by Russian soldiers. World must know the truth!” Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine – Ukrainian Parliament, the official account of the Ukrainian Parliament, tweeted.
#Tallinn, Russia: Women gathered in front of the Russian Embassy to protest against the Russian army’s mass rapes in #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/wpMebn0UDg
— Oneindia News (@Oneindia) April 13, 2022
What caught the netizens’ attention is the costume that they choose to protest the sexual violence inflicted on Ukrainian women.
“Russian soldiers are raping and murdering innocent women and children in Ukraine. People who support this war also support war crimes, jarring murders to which they are accomplices. That is our message to the supporters of the Putin regime (in Russia, Estonia and everywhere),” the protesters said in a statement as per News ERR.
It comes days after a senior official at United Nations claimed that it is hearing accounts of rape and sexual violence in Ukraine and a Ukrainian human rights group accused Russian troops of using rape as a weapon of war.
Kateryna Cherepakha, president of La Strada-Ukraine, said her organization’s emergency hotlines had received calls accusing Russian soldiers of nine cases of rape, involving 12 women and girls.
However, Russia has repeatedly denied attacking civilians since it started invading on February 24.
Last week, the United Nations said that U.N. human rights monitors were seeking to verify allegations of sexual violence by Russian forces, including gang rape and rapes in front of children, and claims Ukrainian forces and civil defense militias had also committed sexual violence.
Story first published: Wednesday, April 13, 2022, 18:38 [IST]