A Ukrainian woman recounts being raped by the Russian soldiers who killed her husband: 'Shall we kill her or keep her alive?'

The first investigation into a rape by Russian soldiers since the beginning of the invasion is being conducted by the Ukrainian government.

An anonymous woman, who went by the name Natalya, said she heard a single shot, the sounds of the gate opening and the sound of footsteps in the house.

She said that on March 9, two Russian soldiers who had killed the family dog returned to kill her husband. The younger guy pointed a gun at my head and said he shot my husband because he was a Nazi.

Natalya told her son to hide in the boiler room. The soldiers raped her as her son cried.

She told The Times that he told her to get her child and show him his mother's brain. They both raped me. My son was crying in the boiler room. I was told to shut him up and come back. They held the gun by my head and said how do you think she sucks it? Shall we kill her or keep her alive?

Her story is one of multiple reports of sexual violence and rape during the invasion of Ukraine and the first to be investigated by the prosecutor general. Ukranian member of parliament Lesia Vasylenko spoke to UK officials about the rising reports of rape.

There are reports of women being gang-raped. These women are the ones who can't get out. The Guardian reported that Vasylenko said they were talking about senior citizens.

Natalya and her son have left the home her husband built for them. She hasn't told her son that his father died yet.

She does not know if she will come back. I wouldn't be able to sell it for myself.