The question shouldn’t be whether rape is happening
Excuse me? We absolutely SHOULD question whether rape is happening.
This "that’s just how war is " kind of narrative needs to go, there is no laws of physics that force armies to commit rape or any voluntary attack against civilians for that matter.
That’s not useful, that’s not helpful, that’s not smart, that’s not having a “nuanced understanding”, that’s cynical minimization of unwarranted violence and horrible crimes against civilians.
It shift the blame of warcrimes on a cynical and frankly halfassed “that’s just how it is” kind of “explanation” and minimise the responsibility of the culprit.
You can’t just say that both sides of a conflict always do this and handwave it as if it was some kind of universal law, if you want to claim that, you need to prove it.
Let’s goooo