UN reports 1,004 verified cases of sexual violence in Ukraine war

Russian forces committed widespread sexual violence against civilians and prisoners of war in Ukraine, including gang rape and electric shocks to the genitals, while Ukrainian authorities were also responsible for a smaller number of violations, the U.N. human rights office said Friday.

The report documented 1,004 verified cases of conflict-related sexual violence between Feb. 24, 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and July 31, 2026. The U.N. said the cases included rape, attempted rape, sexual assault, genital mutilation, forced nudity, beatings and electric shocks to the genitals.

Of the verified cases, 89% were attributed to Russian authorities, including members of the armed forces, prison service and security agencies. The remaining 11% were attributed to Ukrainian authorities, including members of the armed forces, prison service and security service.

The U.N. said the findings were based on confidential interviews with hundreds of victims and survivors, as well as court documents, official records and other evidence. It stressed that the figures do not represent a comprehensive account of sexual violence in the conflict, which remains significantly underreported.

Russia’s permanent diplomatic mission in Geneva declined to comment on the report.

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said it welcomed the report, saying it demonstrated the scale of human rights violations perpetrated by Russia while also highlighting measures taken by Ukrainian authorities to prevent sexual violence and provide compensation to victims.

The statement did not directly address the report’s findings of abuses allegedly committed by Ukrainian forces.

The report said Russia’s refusal to grant the U.N. Human Rights Office access to occupied Ukrainian territory, prisoners of war and civilian detainees meant the figures likely underestimate the true scale of the violations.

In occupied areas of Ukraine and within Russia, Russian authorities carried out sexual violence against Ukrainian prisoners of war and detained civilians at various stages of captivity, including during capture, transfer, interrogation and detention, the report said.

The violations included gang rape, rape, genital mutilation and electric shocks to men’s genitals using a Soviet-era field telephone known as a “tapik.” The findings were based on interviews with victims of sexual violence committed by both sides.

Most victims in detention were men, particularly prisoners of war and detainees, although women and children were also affected, mainly in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.

“Sexual violence in conflict is often misunderstood to be mainly affecting women and girls, whereas in the Ukraine war context, the majority of survivors are men,” Danielle Bell, head of the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, said.

“And men and women require different solutions and approaches to their recovery,” she said.

The report concluded that Russia had failed to take steps to prevent, investigate or prosecute sexual violence committed by its personnel and had not engaged with requests for information from the U.N. Human Rights Office.

Russian prisoners of war

In Ukrainian government-controlled territory, nearly half of the violations attributed to Ukrainian authorities against Russian and third-country prisoners of war and detainees involved threats of sexual violence and beatings to the genitals.

The U.N. Human Rights Office said it did not document any cases of rape of Russian prisoners of war by Ukrainian forces.

The office said Russian and third-country prisoners of war reported sexual violence at 10 official detention facilities and 55 unofficial or transit locations.

The Ukrainian government had taken some steps to prevent such violations and cooperated with requests from the U.N. Human Rights Office, although efforts to ensure accountability remained limited, the report said.

“I am deeply alarmed by the prevalence of these abhorrent acts documented in our report, and fear that they are almost certainly continuing amid the unceasing violence we are witnessing every day in Ukraine,” U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said.

DAILYSABAH