UN Report Attributes 1,004 Ukraine Sexual Violence Cases Mostly to Russia

Two Russian soldiers broke into a family home in the Kyiv region in 2022. They shot and killed the husband. They gang-raped the wife while threatening to shoot her in front of her four-year-old son if she resisted. The killing came first. The rape followed under that threat.

In Geneva on 18 September 2026 the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights published a 20-page report titled Sexual Violence in the Context of the Russian Federation Full-Scale Armed Attack against Ukraine. The document set down 1,004 verified cases of conflict-related sexual violence running from 24 February 2022 through the end of July 2026. On the earlier date Russia had launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, opening the largest armed conflict in Europe since the Second World War.

Of the 1,004 cases, 89 percent were attributed to the Russian side, defined as members of the armed forces, the prison service and the security agencies. The remaining 11 percent were attributed to Ukrainian authorities. Russian military and officials accounted for the victimization of 725 men, 151 women, 14 girls and two boys. The 725 men formed the largest single group.

In occupied areas of Ukraine and within Russia, Russian authorities carried out sexual violence against Ukrainian prisoners of war and detained civilians at all stages of captivity—capture, transfer, interrogation and detention. One Ukrainian prisoner of war described being raped with a baton. Another was forcibly penetrated with cell door keys. A Ukrainian civilian said he was raped with the handle of a shovel.

One hundred fifty-five people, 27 percent, endured electric shocks to the genitals. The current was delivered by a Soviet-era field telephone known as a tapik, a portable military telephone designed for field communication. The shocks formed a common method against Ukrainian prisoners of war and retained medical personnel.

A Russian soldier moved into a woman’s home in Zaporizhzhia and raped her several times a week for a month, promising to ensure her detained husband would be treated better in exchange. Another forced his way into a woman’s home in Kherson, raped her every night and repeatedly threatened her with gang rape. Women and children were affected primarily in occupied territory of Ukraine.

Danielle Bell, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, said, “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.” “And men and women require different solutions and approaches to their recovery.”

Nearly half of the violations attributed to Ukrainian authorities against Russian and third-country prisoners of war involved threats of sexual violence and beatings to the genitals. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights documented no cases of rape of Russian prisoners of war by Ukrainian forces. Russian and third-country prisoners of war reported sexual violence in 10 official detention facilities and 55 unofficial or transit locations. The United Nations interviewed 881 Russian prisoners of war; sixty-three of them, or 7 percent, gave credible testimony of sexual violence against them.

The report rested on confidential interviews with hundreds of victims and survivors, along with court documents and official records. Danielle Bell told reporters in Geneva that the cases documented were just a fraction of the reality. Conflict-related sexual violence remains significantly under-reported. Russia’s refusal to grant the Office access to occupied Ukrainian territory, prisoners of war and civilian detainees meant the figures likely underestimate the true scale. Investigators were able to talk to around 10 percent of prisoners released by both sides and could not access regions of Ukraine controlled by Russian forces.

The youngest documented rape survivor was a four-year-old girl. The oldest was an 82-year-old woman. Both cases were attributed to Russian authorities.

“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,” said Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. “Sexual violence is a grave feature of the full-scale armed attack against Ukraine. It must stop immediately, irrespective of the perpetrators.” “And both Russia and Ukraine must investigate all credible claims of sexual violence – promptly, thoroughly and impartially – and ensure those found responsible are fully brought to justice regardless of rank or affiliation.”