UN Human Rights report details shocking pattern of sexual violence amid Russia’s full scale armed attack on Ukraine in Kyiv

“The report details a shocking pattern of sexual violence against civilians and prisoners of war. More than 1,000 cases were documented by our Human Rights Monitoring Mission colleagues - from the 24^th of February 2022 to the end of July this year,” said Shabia Mantoo, UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson, at the UN biweekly press briefing in Geneva.

The 20-page report is based on confidential interviews with hundreds of victims and survivors of sexual violence committed by both parties, and other relevant materials, including court documents and official records.

“Individual victims recounted deeply distressing experiences to our colleagues. Among violations committed are rape, gang rape, genital mutilation, and other degrading acts of a sexual nature. The youngest documented rape survivor was a four-year-old-girl and the oldest an 82-year-old woman, with both cases perpetrated by Russian authorities,” Mantoo told reporters.

“UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk is deeply alarmed that such abhorrent acts are almost certainly continuing amid the unceasing violence and urges their immediate halt. He is also calling for prompt, thorough and impartial investigations into all credible claims of sexual violence, and for those found responsible to be brought to justice,” she added.

Speaking online from Kyiv, Danielle Bell, head of UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, described the situation in the Ukrainian capital, and recounted accounts of victims of sexual violence who were interviewed for the report.

“Yesterday we had ten air alerts accompanied by explosions with drones, missiles. Throughout the day, more civilians were killed and injured. In the first eight months of this year, compared with all of last year,” she said.

“So its against this backdrop, the report we released today draws attention to a far less visible dimension of the war that is the conflict-related sexual violence, that shabia just covered,” Bell said. “So what's important to highlight is that the report covers sexual violence against both Ukrainian and Russian prisoners of war, civilian detainees held by both sides, and civilians in residential territory or residential areas of occupied territory. I'll just touch on a couple of key findings. The key finding of the report is that sexual violence against Ukrainian prisoners of war and Ukrainian civilian detainees, held by the Russian Federation authorities is widespread.”

“Almost three quarters of the Ukrainian POW [prisoners of war] survivors and almost half of civilian detainee survivors, experienced sexual violence more than once. We documented cases at over 164 facilities both official and unofficial, in every region of occupied territory of Ukraine and across 25 regions of the Russian Federation, from the early days of the full-scale invasion through 2026,” Bell told reporters.

She added: “It occurred throughout captivity from capture, admission procedures, transfer, interrogation in the cells in the shower, even before release or exchange. And we documented the same practices occurring across facilities rape, gang rape, beatings while nude electric shocks or beatings of the genitals, separate sexual degradation and prolonged nudity and forced nudity. These violations involved personnel from multiple Russian State structures, including armed forces.”

Individual victims recounted deeply distressing experiences to the UN Human Rights Office.

“I'm going to give one example over three over three year period, one Ukrainian POW describing subjected to electric shocks to his anus while he was being raped with the same taser. Another time, he was raped with cell keys and forced to lick them. Throughout the three years, he was on multiple occasions subjected to beatings of his genitals, and he was raped with a rubber baton,” Bell recounted.

The report identifies the conditions that allow these violations to recur. Bell explained that prisoners of war and civilian detainees are frequently cut off from the outside world. Basic procedural safeguards are absent or ineffective, and medical examinations often fail to identify or record evidence of abuse. There is little evidence of accountability, and independent monitors, including UN Human Rights Mission who continue to be denied access, according to the head of the UN Human Rights mission.

Outside detention in occupied territory, UN Human Rights documented sexual violence against 95 civilians, predominantly women and girls, including 57 survivors of rape, 15 of whom were gang raped.

“The report also covers violations by the Ukrainian authorities, including sexual violence against Russian and third country nationals and conflict related detainees,” Bell said. “These violations are serious and they require accountability. But the pattern is different in scope and scale. Almost half of the 112 cases of sexual violence that we documented, attributed to Ukrainian authorities, exclusively comprised threats,” said Bell.

ENDS

The full report is available on our website: Home | UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine

For more information and media requests, please contact:

Shabia Mantoo: shabia.mantoo@un.org

Marta Hurtado: marta.hurtadogomez@un.org

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