Ukraine begins first trial of Russian soldier charged with rape of Ukrainian wife and mother

Ukraine held a preliminary hearing in its first trial of a soldier charged with raping a Ukrainian civilian woman during the Russian invasion of the country in Kyiv on Thursday.

Russian commander Mikhail Romanov, 32, was accused of raping a 33-year-old woman in a village outside Kyiv with another soldier three times over the course of one evening after shooting her husband dead.

The woman, who told her story to The Times of London under the pseudonym “Natalya,” said that her son was crying in the boiler room the entire time.

Romanov was identified from social media profile by Natalya, who said he had introduced himself while flirting with her – in front of her husband – earlier that day. The second soldier has not yet been identified or charged.

This rape is one of Russia’s many alleged war crimes during the Ukraine war. Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova told Reuters that many of the suspects are in Russia but that some have been taken captive by Ukraine as prisoners of war.

The woman asked for the trial to held be held behind closed doors to protect her and her family’s identities, said Prosecutor Oksana Kalyus.

Another prosecutor told Reuters than up to 50 such crimes were being investigated but that there were likely many more survivors of sexual assault since the outbreak of the invasion on Feb. 24.

Many were likely afraid or unwilling to come forward, fearing retaliation from Russia and stigma from their Ukrainian peers, according to activists, officials and doctors.

Romanov is being tried in absentia. Prosecutors hope that he will be arrested if he leaves Russia, if found guilty.