Tragic scenes as dog waits for owner 'raped and killed by Russians'

A dog from Ukraine who waited outside his owner's home for weeks after her brutal murder, reportedly at the hands of a Russian soldier, will be reunited with his family.

Adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Anton Gerashchenko recently shared some horrific information about the fate of a woman from Makariv, near Kyiv.

As Russian forces were engaged in an offensive against Kyiv in the first weeks of Moscow's invasion, a number of communities surrounding the capital, including Makariv, Bucha, Irpin and Dmytrivka remained under constant fire.

Mr Gerashchenko claimed Tetiana was raped and murdered by a Russian soldier near her home and shared a video of what her home looked like after the incident.

In the video, locals showed off the room where Tetiana was allegedly "tortured".

Blood is seen on sheets that are thrown on the floor and on the mattress. The woman filming the video is heard whimpering at the scene.

"Here she was murdered," a woman says in the video, according to the translation. Another room in the home appears to be ransacked.

In another clip, in the same video, a woman says men came for Tetiana, dragged her out of the home and raped her.

She insinuated the men were from the Chechen Republic, saying they were Ramzan Kadyrov's men.

"He raped her and he cut her head... well, he cut her to death," the woman says in the video.

On Telegram, Mr Gerashchenko said Tetiana's husband died of Covid on March 16, 2020 and she died this year on March 15.

When Russian-aligned Chechen forces entered the village, Tetiana was waiting for her friend so they could leave together, he said.

"No one knows for how long the woman was tortured. No one could help her because the locals were locked up in basements by Russians," Mr Gerashchenko said.

"The ones who managed to stay home couldn't even approach their windows — they were shot right away.

"Later people said that the rapist was killed by a Russian soldier and Tetiana was buried in the yard of that house."

After her death, Tetiana's dog, Reeny, waited outside her home, waiting for her to come home.

"Reeny doesn't know and still waits for her. No one took care of Reeny during the month of occupation," Mr Gerashchenko said on Twitter.

However, he has since confirmed a friend of Tetiana's has come for the nine-year-old dog and he will be taken to her extended family who was found alive.

'Tip of the iceberg': UN hears cases of rape

Disturbingly, this is not the first allegation of rape and murder amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The United Nations is now hearing accounts of rape and violence by Russian and Ukrainian forces, UN officials said.

Kateryna Cherepakha, president of La Strada-Ukraine, said the rights group's emergency hotlines had received calls accusing Russian soldiers of nine cases of rape, involving 12 women and girls.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg," she told the UN Security Council via video.

"We know and see — and we want you to hear our voices — that violence and rape is used now as a weapon of war by Russian invaders in Ukraine."

Russia's deputy UN ambassador denied the allegations and accused Ukraine and allies of "a clear intention to present Russian soldiers as sadists and rapists".

Ukraine's UN mission did not respond to a request for comment on allegations of sexual violence by Ukrainian forces and civil defence militias.

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Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said Moscow would not pause the fighting for any new round of peace talks, which last convened on April 1.

"A decision was made that during the next rounds of talks, there would be no pause (in military action) so long as a final agreement is not reached," Lavrov said.

With Reuters

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