A new report from the United Nations human rights office has documented widespread sexual violence committed in Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, attributing the overwhelming majority of cases to Russian forces. Of all documented incidents, 89 percent were carried out by Russian perpetrators — including military personnel, prison guards, and members of security services — while 11 percent were attributed to Ukrainian forces. The findings cover the period up to 31 July of this year.
UN investigators, who based their conclusions on interviews with hundreds of victims as well as judicial documents and official records, found that more than a thousand cases have been documented to date. The youngest victim of rape by Russian perpetrators was a four-year-old girl; the oldest was an 82-year-old woman. Danielle Belle, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, described acts occurring "everywhere and at all times" — from the moment of capture through transfers, interrogations, and time in detention cells, and even in the lead-up to prisoner releases or exchanges. The abuses documented include gang rape, electric shocks applied to genitalia, beatings of naked prisoners, and forced nudity. The largest group of victims of Russian sexual violence were Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Violations were also documented on the Ukrainian side, but investigators stressed that the scale and severity are not comparable. Nearly half of the 112 Ukrainian-attributed cases involved threats rather than physical acts, and Ukraine has provided investigators with full access to its detention facilities — access that has never been granted by Russia. No cases of rape of Russian prisoners of war were found.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said he was gravely concerned by the findings. "I fear these acts almost certainly continue amid the ongoing violence we witness daily in Ukraine," he said, describing the incidents as "reprehensible." Russia's permanent mission in Geneva did not respond to a request for comment. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry welcomed the report's publication, saying it demonstrates both the extent of Russian human rights violations and the steps Ukraine is taking to prevent sexual violence and support victims.
Investigators caution that the true number of victims is almost certainly far higher than what has been documented. Researchers were able to interview only around ten percent of prisoners released by either side, and have never been granted access to Russian territory, leaving significant gaps in the available evidence.