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UN Documents 892 Victims of Sexual Violence in Ukraine, With Victims Aged 4 to 82
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Russian forces have committed widespread and systematic sexual violence against Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war since the start of the full-scale invasion, with the United Nations documenting 892 victims, including 16 children, according to a new report by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) on September 18.
The documented cases, recorded between February 24, 2022, and July 31, 2026, involved rape, gang rape, sexualized torture, genital mutilation, electric shocks to victims’ genitals, forced nudity, and other forms of sexual violence. The alleged perpetrators included Russian military personnel, prison staff, and security service officers.
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“I am deeply alarmed by the prevalence of these abhorrent acts … and fear that they are almost certainly continuing amid the unceasing violence we are witnessing every day in Ukraine,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in a statement. “Sexual violence is a grave feature of the full-scale armed attack against Ukraine. It must stop immediately, irrespective of the perpetrators.”
According to the report, 725 of the 892 documented victims were men, while 151 were women and 16 were children. Female victims ranged in age from four to 82.
The UN documented rape involving 46 women and girls, including 10 girls. The victims included a four-year-old girl and an 82-year-old woman. Three women gave birth to children conceived as a result of rape, according to the report.
Women and girls were also subjected to electric shocks to their breasts, forced nudity, beatings while naked, and being forced to witness sexual violence against other detainees.
The report found that sexual violence was also prevalent among Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians held in Russian captivity. Approximately three-quarters of former POWs and nearly half of formerly detained civilians interviewed by the monitoring mission reported experiencing sexual violence more than once.
Ukrainian medical personnel were among those subjected to abuse, while detained civilians faced sexual violence throughout their detention and during interrogations, according to the findings.
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The UN also documented extensive sexualized torture of male detainees. At least 155 men reported having electric shocks applied to their genitals using a Soviet-era military field telephone. Other documented cases involved sexual violence with objects against male POWs and civilians.
The report characterized sexual violence against Ukrainian prisoners of war as “frequent and systematic” and said Russian authorities had failed to take effective measures to prevent or investigate such abuses.
“The Russian Federation has failed to take any discernible steps to prevent, investigate, or prosecute sexual violence committed by its personnel,” the report stated, adding that Russia had instead “enacted legal provisions that provide broad impunity for crimes, including sexual violence.”
“Given the high prevalence of cases attributed to its forces, however, the Russian Federation in particular must take concrete and discernible steps to protect civilians and prisoners of war from all forms of torture, including sexual violence,” Türk said
During the reporting period, OHCHR documented 1,004 cases of sexual violence occurring in both detention and non-detention settings.
The UN findings add to previous documentation of abuse experienced by Ukrainians in Russian captivity. Ukraine has identified 695 methods of torture used against Ukrainian prisoners of war, including physical and psychological abuse and sexual violence, Ukrainian Human Rights Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said on May 22.
According to Lubinets, prisoners have been strangled, beaten, subjected to electric shocks, and attacked with dogs. Some captives have also been forced to remain standing in one place for as long as 18 hours, with attempts to squat or change position met with physical violence.
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