The UN Human Rights Office released a damning report on Friday, documenting 1,004 verified cases of conflict-related sexual violence in Ukraine since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022. The data, compiled between early 2022 and July 2026, attributes 89% of these violations to Russian forces, including members of its armed forces, prison service, and security agencies. The remaining 11% were linked to Ukrainian authorities.
The abuses documented against Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilian detainees were horrific. Russian forces committed gang rape, genital mutilation, and electric shocks to men's genitals using a Soviet-era field telephone known as a “tapik.” These acts occurred during capture, transfer, interrogation, and detention in occupied areas of Ukraine and inside Russia.
Danielle Bell, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, emphasized that the majority of survivors were men, challenging the common perception that sexual violence in conflict primarily affects women. “Sexual violence in conflict is often misunderstood to be mainly affecting women and girls, where in the Ukraine war context, the majority of survivors are men,” Bell said. The UN cautioned that the figures were not comprehensive because such violence remains significantly under-reported, and Russia’s refusal to grant access to occupied territory and detainees means the actual scale is likely higher.
Ukrainian authorities were also held accountable for a smaller number of violations. Nearly half of the cases attributed to Ukrainian forces involved threats of sexual violence and beatings to the genitals against Russian and third-country prisoners. The UN noted that Ukraine had taken some steps to prevent such violations and cooperated with OHCHR requests, though accountability efforts remained limited. In contrast, Russia failed to take steps to prevent, investigate, or prosecute sexual violence committed by its personnel.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry welcomed the report, citing it as evidence of the scale of Russian human rights violations and Kyiv’s measures to prevent such violence and compensate victims. The ministry did not directly address the findings concerning abuse by Ukrainian forces. Russia’s permanent diplomatic mission in Geneva declined to comment. UN high commissioner for human rights Volker Turk expressed deep alarm, stating, “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.”