As invading Russian troops have been pushed back by the Ukrainian army, numerous cases of sexual violence by soldiers against women and children are being reported.

Lyudmyla Denisova, the Ombudsman for Human Rights in Ukraine, told BBC News: “About 25 girls and women aged 14 to 24 were systematically raped during the occupation in the basement of one house in Bucha. Nine of them are pregnant.”

Meanwhile, the Kremlin claims no residents in Bucha suffered any violence from their soldiers.

She added: “Russian soldiers told them they would rape them to the point where they wouldn't want sexual contact with any man, to prevent them from having Ukrainian children.”

As a result, there has been an increase in requests for abortion pills, emergency contraception, and HIV medicine in the recently occupied regions of Ukraine. The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) has sent 2,880 packets of the morning-after pill to Ukraine and volunteers across Europe are collecting donations to take them to Ukrainian hospitals.

As the invasion continues, more cases of rape of Ukrainian civilians are being documented including some women who had been raped before their passing in Kyiv and the gang-rape of a 14-year-old girl who became pregnant; and of an 11-year-old boy in front of his mother.