Most are men: how many Ukrainians suffered sexual violence by Russian forces

At least 1,080 people in Ukraine have suffered sexual violence at the hands of Russian military personnel, with the majority of complaints coming from men. Some reports also concerned children.

Source: open session of the supervisory board of the pilot project providing urgent reparations to victims of sexual violence by Russian troops, as reported by Ukrinform

Quote: "The pilot project began at the end of 2023. During this period, 1,208 applications have been received from people who considered themselves victims. As of today, the review of these applications has been completed, and 1,080 individuals have been identified as victims of conflict-related sexual violence. A total of 76 meetings of the identification committee were held," said government Commissioner for Gender Policy Kateryna Levchenko.

Details: The majority of applications (70%) were from men. A total of seven boys and 21 girls also submitted reports about the violence they had experienced, added Fedir Dunebanin, representative of the Global Fund for Survivors of Violence in Ukraine.

Only 9% of applications came from law enforcement. Half of the applications were submitted by partner organisations and service providers, and nearly 40% came from networks of victims.

"What the statistics of this pilot project show is the highest level of assessment that we have indeed been able to build trust and a system of interaction with victims. Notably, most applications come from men," said Olena Sotnyk, adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister on European and Euro-Atlantic Integration.

In addition to reparations payments, the project's specialist employees contributed to the development of state policy on the social and legal protection of victims of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV).

"An important achievement was the adoption of Law No. 4067 (On the legal and social protection of persons affected by sexual violence related to russia's Armed aggression against Ukraine), which largely took into account the experience gained in the implementation of this project," Levchenko added.

Background: The Ukrainian Parliament previously adopted a bill establishing support and the restoration of rights for people affected by sexual violence during the Russian invasion.

Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!