Italy: Ukrainian Woman Attacked with Acid by ‘Youth Gang’

A 56-year-old Ukrainian woman was surrounded and attacked with acid by a youth gang in the city of Perugia after the gang asked her nationality and what she thought of the ongoing war.

The 56-year-old, who has lived in the city of Perugia for some time and is not a refugee fleeing the ongoing conflict, was surrounded by the youth gang along the via Bartolo last Saturday and was asked if she was Ukrainian, to which she replied in the affirmative.

The group of youths then asked, “what do you think of the war?” to which the woman answered that she wanted peace. According to a report from the newspaper Il Giornale, the gang became aggressive and assaulted the woman with a corrosive liquid substance, likely acid, which burned her hands.

Local police are investigating the assault and have been collecting witness testimony in order to identify those behind the attack and are said to be reviewing local CCTV footage as well.

Police are said to be theorizing that the attack may be simple hooliganism but note the reference to the woman’s nationality could indicate another motive for the attack.

Physical descriptions of the suspects were not included in the Il Giornale report.

The attack, according to Il Giornale, comes after another Ukrainian woman and her son were attacked by a group of youths in the commune of San Giustino, which is also located in the province of Perugia.

Ukrainian women have also been subject to attacks and threats in other European countries since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine last month.

In Sweden, a group of Ukrainian refugee women said that at least two different groups of men had attempted to break into their accommodation, in one case a group of men tried to enter the bedroom of a woman who was sleeping along with her children.

“I don’t want to live here because I am afraid,” one of the refugee women told Sveriges Radio, the Scandinavian country’s publicly-funded national radio broadcaster. a

“It’s not too dangerous like in my country, but it is dangerous too,” the Ukrainian woman added.

Sveriges Radio offered no description of the groups of men, but the online news site Samnytt claims they were comprised of Somalis and Arabs, respectively.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com.