In Kherson, occupied by Russia, reports of rape begin to appear

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Kherson region, Ukraine (CNN) ––

When Dasha and other children left the basement they took refuge in and entered their newly occupied village, it was for food.

They were hiding from the Russians, who were shooting in the air, at cars... and at people.

However, the moment the children left their hiding place, they were greeted by two unwelcome guests: Russian soldiers.

The men let the children into the kitchen to get something to eat, Dasha said.

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It was the middle of March and Dasha, 16, was about six months pregnant.

One of the soldiers, who Dasha said was drunk, started asking how many rooms there were in the house and the ages of the children.

What happened next is an incident that Ukrainian prosecutors are calling a war crime.

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While the rampant violence around Kyiv has embodied the senseless savagery of Russia's onslaught on civilians, dark and untold stories of its brutality are slowly emerging in small and distant towns, such as Dasha, in the Kherson region, in the south of Ukraine.

Those stories help portray a pattern of a Russian Army marked by criminal behavior.

And, in this case, the alleged assault on a minor at her most vulnerable moment.

Dasha and her family took refuge in her basement prior to the alleged rape.

Dasha said that when the girls, ages 12 and 14, saw the soldiers in their kitchen, they were terrified.

"First he (the drunken soldier) called my mother into another room. He quickly let her go. Then he called me," she said.

"When I came in, he first told me how he saved two people in our village: a mother with two children," he said.

But then the soldier, who Dasha later learned was from Donetsk and called "Blue" by other soldiers, turned violent.

“He started screaming, first telling me to undress.

I told him I wouldn't, and (he) started yelling at me.

And he said if he didn't undress me he was going to kill me," he told CNN.

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At that moment, the other soldier entered the room and warned Blue that he would be in trouble with the rest of the unit if he went ahead with his apparent plan.

Azul didn't seem to mind the warning, Dasha said, and her colleague walked out, telling her only to return to the unit in 30 minutes.

“When I resisted, he strangled me and told me he would kill me.

Then he made an unimaginable threat, Dasha recalled, telling her: 'Either you sleep with me now or I'll bring 20 more people.'

Dasha's story was interrupted by her sobs.

Her mother sat close to her as she spoke, also visibly distraught.

"I just remember that he had blue eyes, and it was dark in there. And I didn't remember anything," he said.

Dasha mentioned that after raping her, her attacker tried to attack her several times until two Russian snipers intervened to help her, taking her and her family to another house.

CNN does not identify victims of sexual assault and in this case refers to Dasha by a pseudonym.

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There they told her that Azul had been killed, she said.

Ella Dasha later found out it was a lie when a Russian paratrooper commander summoned her to the next town to discuss her assault.

But it wasn't a conversation, he said.

Instead, it was a terrifying interrogation.

"He (the commander) used some kind of psychological tactic," Dasha said.

"He started saying the same things that the rapist had told me, yelling at me and (saying that) he would do the same thing as the rapist. I was so scared that I started crying," she said.

After she broke down, Dasha said the commander decided she was telling the truth.

It is unclear what happened to Azul.

Dasha had heard other Russian soldiers say that her attacker had a "criminal past".

She believes that she was looking for a victim.

"We were told he was wandering around town," Dasha said, "and looking for someone he could... 'a girl of easy virtue,' as they say," he added.

Russian forces have abandoned Dasha village, but the trauma of their occupation remains.

CNN has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.

About a week after the alleged rape, the Russians left their village.

A report by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), published on April 13, found violations of international humanitarian law by Russian forces in Ukraine.

And he noted that “reports indicate cases of gender-based violence related to the conflict, such as rape, sexual violence or sexual harassment.”

CNN cannot independently verify Dasha's harrowing account.

But Ukrainian prosecutors in the Kherson region said in a statement that they had investigated her account.

In the statement they stated: "Thanks to the testimony of the victim and the results of a series of investigative actions, it was established that in early March 2022, during the occupation of a village where there were no military installations of Ukrainian soldiers, (there were ) war crimes against civilians, including the rape of an underage resident of the village."

Prosecutors declined to provide further details, citing privacy concerns.

As parts of the country seek to rebuild, the trauma of the Russian occupation continues to terrorize communities in the south.

Their brutality is visible on roads, buildings and houses.

But for survivors like Dasha, the trauma of that occupation will long live below the surface.

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