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(https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/09/1168374) (Share this via Facebook) Facebook (https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Sexual violence against civilians and POW’s in Ukraine widespread and ‘abhorrent’ &url=https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/09/1168374) (Share this via Twitter) Twitter (1168374.html) (Share this via Print) Print (mailto:?subject=Sexual violence against civilians and POW’s in Ukraine widespread and ‘abhorrent’ &body=https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/09/1168374) (Share this via Email) Email    Sexual violence against civilians and POW’s in Ukraine widespread and ‘abhorrent’     18 September 2026   (https://news.un.org/en/news/topic/human-rights) Human Rights   Over 1,000 cases of sexual violence against civilians and prisoners of war (POWs) in Ukraine have been documented from the start of Russia’s invasion to the end of July this year.              That’s according to a new UN human rights office ((http://www.ohchr.org/EN/pages/home.aspx) OHCHR ) report which (https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/09/shocking-sexual-violence-amid-russias-full-scale-attack-ukraine) details violations including gang rape, rape, genital mutilation, electric shocks and beatings to the genitals – together with other degrading acts of a sexual nature. Violations were recorded on both sides of the frontline, but the pattern is very different “in scope and scale,” stressed Danielle Bell, the head of the Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, briefing journalists on Friday.  Tweet URL    (https://twitter.com/UNHumanRights/statuses/2100946922651439274)      Russian authorities – including members of the armed forces, prison service and national security service – were responsible for 89 per cent of the documented cases . Sexual violence was particularly widespread among detainees held by Russian authorities, with almost three-quarters of former prisoners of war and nearly half of all civilians detained experiencing sexual violence on more than one occasion , Ms. Bell reported. The remaining 11 per cent of documented cases were attributed to Ukrainian authorities , and almost half of these exclusively comprised threats.  Ms. Bell also stressed that Ukraine provides the UN mission with “unfettered access” to the prisoner-of-war camps and to other detention facilities.  Most victims are men  Most of the victims of sexual violence were men, particularly in places of detention, and those interviewed for the report recounted deeply distressing experiences.  Many of the Ukrainian POWs and retained medical personnel suffering violations by Russian forces said they were tasered in the genitals using a Soviet-era military field telephone known as a “tapik”, with 155 (27 per cent) having endured this form at least once.  One Ukrainian POW described being raped with a baton, another being forcibly penetrated with cell door keys. One Ukrainian civilian said he had been raped with a shovel handle. Women and children  Nonetheless, women and children were also affected, primarily in occupied territory of Ukraine. 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. One of the women interviewed recounted that a Russian soldier moved into her home in Zaporizhzhia and raped her several times a week for a month, promising that her detained husband would be treated better in exchange. Another woman said a Russian soldier forced his way into her home in Kherson and raped her every night. He also repeatedly threatened her with gang rape. In another case, a woman described how two Russian soldiers broke into a family home in the Kyiv region in 2022. After shooting and killing her husband, they gang raped her and threatened to shoot her in front of her four-year-old son if she resisted. ‘Almost certainly’ ongoing  “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 UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk. “It must stop immediately, irrespective of the perpetrators,” he stressed.  “Given the high prevalence of cases attributed to its forces, however, the Russian Federation in particular must take concrete and discernible steps to protect civilians and prisoners of war from all forms of torture, including sexual violence,” he said.                     ♦ Receive daily updates directly in your inbox - (https://news.un.org/en/content/un-newsletter-subscribe?utm_source=UN News&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=un_news_newsletter) Subscribe here  to a topic. ♦ Download the UN News app for your (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/un-news-reader/id496893005?mt=8) iOS  or (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.un.mobile.news&hl=en) Android  devices.     (https://news.un.org/en/tags/victims-sexual-violence-conflict) victims of sexual violence in conflict  (https://news.un.org/en/tags/ukraine) Ukraine              Related Stories  (https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/11/1130657)   (A destroyed apartment in Borodianka, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine, showing a room filled with debris, rubble, and damaged furniture, including a bed and desk.)      (https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/11/1130657) Ukrainian and Russian POWs tortured and ill-treated: OHCHR     (https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/03/1148026)   (Destroyed apartment buildings in Izyum, Ukraine, showing extensive damage from shelling.)      (https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/03/1148026) UN report: Credible allegations Ukrainian POWs have been tortured by Russian forces    (https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/06/1165116)   (A drone attack in Odesa, Ukraine on March 21, 2025, left buildings severely damaged with debris scattered across the street. People are seen amidst the wreckage.)      (https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/06/1165116) Report reveals significant rise in civilian casualties and rights violations in Ukraine              News Tracker: Past Stories on This Issue  (https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/09/1168336)   (Ruined interior of a damaged kindergarten in Chuhuiv, Ukraine, showing overturned wooden desks, broken walls, and rubble.)      (https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/09/1168336) Ukraine: Attacks on education threaten an entire generation, UNICEF warns    15 September 2026   (https://news.un.org/en/news/topic/culture-and-education) Culture and Education   In an underground classroom in Sumy, Ukraine, children sit quietly at their desks, busy with the day’s lessons. For the moment they are shielded from the horrors of nearly five years of war, but just barely.     (https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/08/1168134)   (A fire truck is present amidst the wreckage of a destroyed car and a damaged apartment building in Kyiv, Ukraine.)      (https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/08/1168134) Ukraine: Civilian casualties hit highest level since March 2022    13 August 2026   (https://news.un.org/en/news/topic/human-rights) Human Rights   Civilian casualties in Ukraine reached their highest monthly level in July, with more people killed and injured than at any time since March 2022, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in the country, HRMMU, said in an update on Thursday.              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