UN Report Details Widespread Sexual Violence and Torture by Russian Forces in Ukraine

Russian soldiers have engaged in widespread sexual violence and torture of civilians and prisoners of war in Ukraine, according to a new report from the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.

The document, covering verified cases from February 2022 to July 2026, logged 1,004 instances of conflict-related violence. Of these, 89 percent were attributed to Russian forces, including members of the armed forces, prison service, and security agencies. The remaining 11 percent were linked to Ukrainian authorities.

Violations documented include gang rape, rape, genital mutilation, and the use of electric shocks on male genitals with a Soviet-era field telephone known as a 'tapik.' The report's findings are based on interviews with victims and indicate that a four-year-old Ukrainian girl was among the youngest victims of gang rape.

While most victims in detention were men, particularly prisoners of war and detainees, women and children were also affected, primarily in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine. Danielle Bell, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, noted that while sexual violence in conflict is often assumed to primarily affect women and girls, the majority of survivors in the Ukraine war context are men, requiring different approaches to recovery.

One account described a woman in Zaporizhzhia who was repeatedly raped by a Russian soldier who had taken over her home, with the soldier allegedly promising better treatment for her husband in captivity. Another woman reported being raped nightly by a Russian soldier in Kherson, who also threatened gang rape. In a particularly harrowing case, a woman stated that two Russian soldiers gang-raped her after killing her husband and threatened her four-year-old son.

The report concluded that Russia has failed to implement measures to prevent, investigate, or prosecute sexual violence committed by its personnel and has not responded to requests for information from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

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.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk expressed deep alarm at the prevalence of these acts, stating that they are likely continuing amid the ongoing violence.

The report also highlights a severe humanitarian crisis in the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky in southern Ukraine, where thousands of residents are reportedly starving. All roads leading out of the city have been mined by Russian soldiers, trapping an estimated 2,000 people. Constant drone attacks and shelling have made delivering essential supplies impossible, with residents attempting to flee via a dangerous route known as the 'Death Road' to Skadovsk, which is reportedly littered with mines and targeted by Russian drones. Ukraine's human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, stated on September 16 that residents are desperate to escape, with bodies unburied due to a bombed mortuary and remaining in cellars or on streets.

Volunteers have indicated that evacuation efforts from Oleshky are now too dangerous, leaving civilians trapped. The Russian military continues to use towns on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson Oblast for attacks. Oleshky residents report being driven to despair, resorting to eating grass and searching destroyed cellars for food. Efforts to organize a humanitarian evacuation mission have been complicated by a lack of confirmation from the Kremlin regarding its readiness to proceed, further deepening the humanitarian crisis.