Sexual violence against civilians and POW’s in Ukraine widespread and ‘abhorrent’ — SkimNews
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- UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine documented over 1,000 cases of sexual violence against civilians and POWs from the start of Russia's invasion through the end of July, including rape, gang rape, genital mutilation, electric shocks and beatings to the genitals
- Russian authorities — including armed forces, prison service and national security service — were responsible for 89% of documented cases, while Ukrainian authorities accounted for the remaining 11%, nearly half of which were exclusively threats, mission head Danielle Bell told journalists
- Former Ukrainian POWs and civilians detained by Russian forces experienced sexual violence on multiple occasions at strikingly high rates: almost three-quarters of POWs and nearly half of all detained civilians, according to the report
- 155 Ukrainian POWs (27%) reported being tasered in the genitals using a Soviet-era military field telephone known as a "tapik," with other detainees describing rape with batons, keys and shovel handles
- Women and children in occupied territory were also affected; the youngest documented rape survivor was a four-year-old girl and the oldest an 82-year-old woman, both perpetrated by Russian authorities, including soldiers who occupied homes in Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and the Kyiv region
- Ukraine provides the UN mission "unfettered access" to POW camps and detention facilities, Bell stressed, a contrast to Russia's non-cooperation
- UN High Commissioner Volker Türk said he is "deeply alarmed" by the prevalence of these "abhorrent acts" and called on Russia in particular to take "concrete and discernible steps" to protect civilians and POWs from all forms of torture
Why it matters: The OHCHR report attributes nearly nine in ten documented cases to Russian forces, with three-quarters of Ukrainian POWs held by Russia reporting sexual violence — a documented scale that creates immediate pressure on Russia to allow international monitors access and strengthens ongoing accountability mechanisms, including potential war crimes prosecutions.
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