Dutch police are investigating the possible sexual exploitation of two Ukrainian women in The Hague and a sexual assault on a Ukrainian women in a private home in Amsterdam, city mayor Femke Halsema has told councillors.

The women in The Hague had been living in a refugee centre in Amstelveen before moving, the mayor said in her briefing.

Halsema was addressing questions raised by Denk councillors who had asked if she was aware of any Ukrainian refugees being sexually exploited.

In addition to the three cases already being investigated, a group of Ukrainian women found in a dwelling in Amsterdam have been referred to the authorities but were not being sexually exploited, Halsema said.

All reports of potential people traffickers hanging around refugee accommodation are being referred to the police, she said, without saying how many times this had happened.

Security officials and centre staff were being trained to spot signs of human trafficking and ‘awareness has further increased’, Halsema told councillors.

In March, after the first Ukrainian refugees arrived in the Netherlands, the Dutch human trafficking agency CoMensha warned about the possible exploitation of Ukrainians.

‘People can abuse the vulnerable position which refugees find themselves in,’ director Ina Hut told NOS radio. There had been several instances of women surrounded by men when they arrived at railway stations, she said.