Since February 24, 2022, Ukraine has been at war with Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Russia. It destroys a country and affects every soul living there. 16-year-old Tasha was one of the victims of the conflict and described her ordeal in columns. Parisian. Pregnant and raped by a Russian soldier, she is the human representation of what it means to be a war criminal, a young man’s pain and strength seeming to be felt through a backlit photograph published daily.
Dasha lived in the village of Krasnivka, which had been taken over by the Russians since it had been liberated by the Ukrainians. At the Kryvyi Rih Agricultural High School, which has been converted into a reception center for refugees, she decided to share her experience one last time, before the birth of her child. To turn the page and move on, perhaps because hope is slim but the culprit is determined.
Tasha, who is pregnant by a young man who ran away west, is with her mother, 14-year-old sister, and three younger brothers, ages 6, 7, and 11. One morning, two completely drunk soldiers burst into the place where Tasha and her relatives are. One of them takes her to a room. “He asked me to undress, and I said no, and he said to me: “So I’m going to call twenty guys.“”Dasha continues, her gaze unmistakable:”I don’t want to, but I have no choice“Her mother is not far away, the springs of the mattress are heard. Tasha did not scream, she had no right: “He ordered me not to make noise, he tried to kiss me, he was against me, I wanted to push him, but he was too strong, even drunk. He grabbed me by the neck and it choked me a little. And he had this boozy smell, and I smelled it all around me.”
The girl had unprotected anal penetration and would later report it to the police. The test does not end there. He takes her with him and shouts to her: “Now you will come with me. You have no more mother, no more sisters, no more brothers. you are a whore“He wants to make her drink, but Tasha stops him for his child. Then other soldiers arrive, young snipers who want women and children under their protection.”According to them, their ‘comrades’ are coming out of prison, released from their prisons at the beginning of the war“, explain Parisian. Despite this “protection” other rapes still happen. The Russians also conducted their investigation by giving Dasha a “test”: an officer forced her to accompany him to a room to undress. Panicking, she stumbles before the Russian commander explains to her that this is a stage to verify her statements…
She will give birth in a few days. Another life awaits Tasha. But always, she has to fight against the ghosts of the past that ruined her young life.
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