Russian journalist Roman Badanin: 'For Putin, the war in Ukraine is simply a means to stay in power'

Russian military personnel have been found responsible for the overwhelming majority of sexual violence perpetrated against civilians and prisoners of war (POWs) in Ukraine since the onset of the full-scale conflict, according to a recent United Nations (UN) report released on September 18. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, expressed deep concern over the prevalence of these reprehensible acts, warning that they are likely continuing amidst the ongoing violence in Ukraine.

Out of the 1,004 confirmed instances of conflict-related sexual violence from February 2022 to July 2026, 89% were attributed to Russian forces. Only 11% were attributed to Ukrainian forces, with threats of sexual violence making up nearly half of these cases. UN Human Rights Commissioner Turk emphasized that sexual violence is a grave aspect of the full-scale aggression against Ukraine and must be halted immediately, regardless of the perpetrators.

The Russian Federation, in particular, must take decisive action to protect civilians and POWs from all forms of torture, including sexual violence. The 20-page report, based on interviews with survivors, court documents, official records, and findings from the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, acknowledges that the findings may be incomplete due to potential underreporting and Russia's refusal to grant access to the occupied Ukrainian territory.

Russian forces subjected Ukrainian POWs and civilians to sexual violence as part of a systematic pattern of torture, intimidation, and coercion, with the majority of victims being men. Women and children, primarily in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory, also suffered from rape and sexual assault. The youngest documented rape victim was a four-year-old girl, and the oldest was an 82-year-old woman, both of whom were victims of Russian forces.

The report details various forms of sexual violence, including rape, gang rape, genital mutilation, electric shocks, genital beatings, and degrading acts. One particularly heinous form of torture involved Russian forces electrocutating men's genitals using tasers or a Soviet-era military field telephone called a "tapik." Out of 155 Ukrainian POWs who reported this torture, at least one instance was experienced.

Ukrainian women who participated in the report recounted being raped by Russian soldiers under threats of being killed or having their family members tortured or killed. The report also identified cases of Ukrainian forces subjecting Russian POWs to forced nudity, electric shocks, genital beatings, sexually degrading treatment, as well as two sexual assaults and two attempted rapes.

While the Ukrainian government has taken concrete steps to prevent and address such violations, Russia has failed to do the same, according to the report's summary.