When Russian troops invaded Ukraine and began closing in on its capital, Kyiv, Andrii Dereko begged his 22-year-old stepdaughter Karina Yershova to leave the suburb where she lived.
Highlights
- Karina Yershova’s stepfather says she was killed by Russian soldiers.
- Police told her family she had been killed by pro-Russian soldiers, he says.
- Human rights groups say they have been working around the clock to deal with a growing number of sexual abuse cases.
- OSCE report found violations of international humanitarian law by Russian forces in Ukraine.
- CNN has not been able to independently verify the account of rape by Russian troops in the country.
- Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilians since the war began – a claim disproven by CNN and other news organizations that have been verified by news organizations and human rights groups – but CNN has reached out to the Russian Ministry of Defense