Russian soldier ’kidnapped Ukrainian woman to keep as sex-slave’ back home
A 21-year-old Ukrainian woman was raped and then kidnapped into sex-slavery by a Russian soldier, who imprisoned her for over a year before she made a daring escape
The woman was reportedly taken from Ukraine across the border to Russia (Image: Getty Images)
A 21-year-old Ukrainian woman was held captive and repeatedly raped by a Russian soldier for over a year after being abducted from her home, Ukrainian investigators have revealed.
The woman, who has not been named, lived alongside her disabled mother and two younger brothers in a village in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region when Russian forces seized the area at the start of the country’s invasion, according to an investigation by The Times.
She reportedly describes one soldier, named in the report as Vyacheslav Dubenko, as having raped and sexually assaulted her on several occasions. When her mother begged the Russian commander to intervene, he is described as simply saying: “The young will be young.”
On one occasion, he returned armed alongside two other soldiers and delivered a chilling threat: “Do you want your family to be dead?”
He then reportedly took her across the border to a home in Belgorod, Russia, where she was to be imprisoned.
A war crimes investigator described the hideous crimes to The Times, saying: “The balcony had metal bars. Everything was boarded up. The doors were locked with both keys and padlocks … he took away her phone.”
“He left her food, that’s it. It was sex slavery.”
Dubenko, now 32, reportedly only let his victim leave the house at night, allowing her to sit on a bench below the flat.
He would often threaten to kill her family if she tried to escape or refused sex.
Eventually, in September 2023, the victim was able to make an escape having managed to make a phone call to her sister in Poland, who liaised with a team of volunteers including her older brother in Ukraine to arrange a smuggling operation.
The unnamed victim had only been able to make the phone call after Dubenko was briefly detained for desertion by Russian officials, after he was found to be accepting military pay despite not being present on the front line.
Following her liberation, journalists got in contact with Dubenko online, however the Russian simply responded to their requests with a laughing face emoji and the words “Go f*** yourself.”
He also reportedly told a Russian news site that Sofia had made the move to Russia voluntarily, something she vehemently denies.
It is not thought he has faced any charges in Russia relating to his alleged actions.
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