Natalya speaks quietly, afraid that Alexei, her little son, will wake up and find out the terrible truth.. The truth about why they had to flee through the pine forest from the house his father built. About what men with guns did to her while the boy sat and cried in a dark boiler room.. And also about the one who lay not alive in their yard when they last came out of there.

“He doesn’t understand much,” she explained during a phone call from the western Ukrainian city where the mother and her son fled three weeks ago.. Before that, they lived in a village near Kyiv.

“Here on the playground, he comes up to people and says that we had to move out of the house because of the war and bandits in the house and that dad stayed. He does not know that his father is dead,” said Natalia.

The publication clarifies that this is not the real name of the Ukrainian. And her son's name is also not Alexei. However, these names were chosen so that the story of how Russian soldiers invaded people's homes, robbed them, shot the woman's man, and then raped her herself for several hours on March 9 could be safely told.. Ukrainian authorities reported systematic sexual crimes against women by Russian troops. Rape added to their already cruel and archaic arsenal. Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba seeks justice through the International Criminal Court as rape has been a war crime since 2008.

Natalia's case can be considered first. Last week, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova announced the opening of the first official investigation into a case of rape by Russian soldiers of a woman after the murder of her husband.. Natalia is exactly that woman. She agreed to tell her story to The Times to dispel rumors that it was false..

33-year-old Natalya and her 35-year-old husband Andrei lived in a small farm near the village of Shevchenkovo, Brovary district, not far from the Ukrainian capital. Here the family built their house among the pine forest.

“We planned the birth of a child and dreamed of our own house. We wanted to live closer to nature. That's why we didn't settle in the city. My husband put his heart and soul into building this house.. Everything was made from natural wood and stones. We went to the forest and collected garbage that other people left there, ”the woman recalled during a telephone conversation.. Now he lives in Ternopil.

Brovary became one of the first battlefields with Russian troops trying to capture Kyiv. On March 8, upon learning that the Russians had entered the village, the family hung a white sheet on the gate to show that “people just live here and no one wants problems”. The next morning, they heard a single shot outside their house and the sounds of the gate breaking.. Leaving the house with their hands up, they saw a group of soldiers, one of whom was still aiming at a dog killed in the yard..

" And that they don't want to harm anyone. All these typical fables, they say, “we thought we were going to school and didn’t know that we were being sent to war,” says Natalya.

Later, the soldiers went to look for fuel for the ATV, which was stolen from the neighbors.. The commander looked at Natalia, introduced himself as Mikhail Romanov, and said that if it were not for the war, an affair would definitely have started between them..

“There was another guy named Vitaly who apologized for the dog. He said that at home he breeds dogs with his wife.. Michael at that moment seemed drunk. I asked them to leave because my son was scared. He is only four years old. I told them you can leave? You have already checked the house and now you are only scaring him, ”said the woman.

The commander got angry when he saw a camouflage jacket in Andrey's car and opened fire. He fired at the car, and then threatened that he would blow up Natalia's car with a grenade. She begged him not to do this and leave the transport in case of an emergency.. But the Russian military snatched the keys, started the engine and smashed the car against a fallen tree.. Only then did he leave.. When it got dark, the family heard movement at the gate. Andrei went to check what was going on, leaving the door open behind him..

“I heard a single shot, the sound of the gate opening, and then footsteps in the house,” said Natalia.

It was Romanov, returning with another man, about 20 years old, in a black uniform..

I screamed: where is my husband. Then they looked into the courtyard and saw him on the ground at the gate. The younger guy put a gun to my head and said: “I shot your husband because he is a Nazi,” recalled the Ukrainian.

Natalya shouted to her son and ordered him to stay in the boiler room, where they were hiding from shelling.

“The husband said:“ You better shut up or I will get your child and show him how the mother’s brains are scattered around the house, ”said Natalya, her voice for the first time subsided.

" They both raped me in turn. They didn't care that my son was crying in the boiler room. They told me to leave and silence him and then come back. All the time they held a gun to my head, mocked me. They said: \? Should we kill her or let her live "

After a while the men left. And she was able to go to her son, who was seized with fear. He refused to move. After 20 minutes, the Russian soldiers returned and raped her again..

“When they returned for the third time, they were so drunk that they could hardly stand on their feet.. Eventually they both fell asleep in their chairs.. I crawled into the boiler room and told my son that we need to run very fast or they will shoot us, ”said the Ukrainian. This time the boy silently followed her into the yard..

“While I opened the gate, the son stood next to the body of his father. But it was dark and he did not understand that it was his father.. He asked: \? "

Even after escaping through the fields to the neighbors' house, and then to Brovary the next day, and finally to the Lviv region, Natalia was still unable to tell her son about the murder of his father. In Brovary, she spent the night with her relatives, who sent her to a town near Ternopil, where her husband's sister was evacuated with her children.. It was she who convinced Natalya to tell the police about the rape and murder..

" But when we went to the police, my husband's sister forced me to speak. And there was no return. I understand that many affected people are silent because they are afraid. Many do not believe that such terrible things happen.. One woman I was with after that wrote to the village group. And people said: “Stop inventing,” said Natalya.

She found Romanov through social networks. It turned out that he was accused of many attacks.. She still does not know the name of the second rapist.. But she's probably the only victim who can recognize him.. Last week, she was told that Ukrainian soldiers killed Romanov in Brovary. But Natalya does not know for sure if this is true..

In Ternopil, when she takes Aleksey to the playground, he tells other children: “My beloved dog was killed.”. He doesn't know about his father's death. Even when he and his mother go to the store, the boy asks his mother: Let's buy a donut for dad.

April 24 was supposed to be their wedding anniversary.. The body of Natalia's man has not yet been taken away.

“We can’t bury him, we can’t go to the village because it is still occupied,” she said, adding that she didn’t know if she would return even if the territory was liberated..

" I don't know how I can live with all this.. But I still understand that my husband built this house for us.. I can never bring myself to sell it,” added Natalia.