Ukraine War: UN Documents 1,004 Sexual Violence Cases and Calls for Justice

Almost half of the violations attributed to Ukrainian authorities against Russian and third-country national prisoners of war involved threats of sexual violence.

Sexual violence has been used to torture, intimidate and coerce civilians and prisoners of war during Russia's full-scale armed attack on Ukraine, according to a new UN Human Rights Office report documenting 1,004 cases between 24 February 2022 and the end of July 2026. Behind those figures are accounts from people abused in detention or attacked inside their own homes, with Russian authorities responsible for 89 per cent of the documented cases and Ukrainian authorities responsible for the remaining 11 per cent.

A Pattern Revealed Through Survivors' Accounts

The 20-page report, Sexual Violence in the Context of the Russian Federation Full-Scale Armed Attack against Ukraine, draws on confidential interviews with hundreds of victims and survivors, alongside court documents, official records and other relevant material. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk expressed deep alarm at the prevalence of the abuse, saying he feared the violations were almost certainly continuing amid the daily violence in Ukraine more than four years after the full-scale attack began.

Most documented victims were men, particularly people held in detention, with women and children affected primarily in occupied Ukrainian territory. The report records rape, gang rape, genital mutilation, electric shocks, beatings targeting the genitals and other sexually degrading acts; the youngest documented rape survivor was a four-year-old girl and the oldest an 82-year-old woman, with both cases attributed to Russian authorities. Those implicated on the Russian side included members of the armed forces, prison service and national security service.

Abuse in Detention and Inside Homes

Survivors described sexual violence inflicted through electric shocks, including the use of a Soviet-era military field telephone known as a 'tapik'. The report records that 155 Ukrainian prisoners of war and retained medical personnel, representing 27 percent of that group, endured electric shocks to their genitals using such equipment or a taser at least once. Accounts from Ukrainian prisoners and a civilian described rape involving objects, illustrating the severe forms of torture reported by people held in Russian custody.

Women's testimonies reveal abuse tied to threats against their families and control over their homes. In Zaporizhzhia, a woman said a Russian soldier moved into her house and repeatedly raped her over a month, promising better treatment for her detained husband in exchange; another woman in Kherson described nightly rape and repeated threats of gang rape. A survivor in the Kyiv region recounted being gang raped by two Russian soldiers in 2022 after they killed her husband, with threats that she would be shot in front of her four-year-old son if she resisted.

Investigations Must Reach Every Perpetrator

Almost half of the violations attributed to Ukrainian authorities against Russian and third-country national prisoners of war involved threats of sexual violence. The remaining cases included forced nudity, electric shocks and beatings targeting the genitals, electric shocks and beatings inflicted on naked prisoners, sexually degrading treatment, two sexual assaults and two attempted rapes. The findings place responsibility on both sides to address abuse committed by their personnel and protect everyone in their custody.

Türk called for an immediate end to sexual violence regardless of who commits it, urging Russia in particular to take concrete, demonstrable measures to protect civilians and prisoners of war because of the high proportion of cases attributed to its forces. He demanded prompt, thorough and impartial investigations by both Russia and Ukraine into every credible allegation, with perpetrators brought to justice regardless of rank or affiliation. The UN rights chief renewed his call for Russia to immediately, completely and unconditionally cease its use of force against Ukraine and withdraw all military forces from Ukrainian territory in accordance with the UN Charter and binding international law.