Since February 2024, the Prosecutor General’s Office has recorded 287 cases of sexual violence related to the invasion of the Russian Federation
Russia regularly commits war crimes against the civilian population in Ukraine, including not only sexual violence, but also intentional killings, destruction of property, and other violations of the laws and customs of war.
Most of the victims of sexual violence at the hands of the Russian military – 185 people – are women, 102 – men. 15 of them are minors, including 14 girls and one boy. The General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine informed about this.
The largest number of cases of sexual violence was recorded in Kherson region — 85. There were also 56 in Kyiv region, 74 in Donetsk region, and 32 in Kharkiv region. 18 — in Zaporizhia Region, 7 — in Chernihiv Region, 3 — in Luhansk Region, 10 — in Mykolaiv Region, and 2 — in Sumy Region. it refers to: rape, mutilation or violence against the genitals, forced exposure, threats and attempted rape, forced to watch sexual abuse of loved ones. These are cases officially documented by prosecutors.
“On the example of Kherson Region, prosecutors recorded such crimes by the Russian military as rape, torture, gender-based violence against mothers, wives, and sisters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. These are all nothing but patterns. This is a weapon for the destruction of the nation of Ukrainians, genocide,” said Victor Mysiak, Prosecutor of the Department of Procedural Management of Pretrial Investigations and Support of Public Prosecutions in Criminal Proceedings on Crimes Related to Sexual Violence, Department of Combating Crimes Committed in Conditions of Armed Conflict, Office of the General secretary prosecutor
Based on the revealed facts of sexual violence in the occupied territories of the villages of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kherson, Kharkiv and Mykolaiv regions, the impressions of 40 servicemen of the Russian Federation are reported. 19 lawsuits against 28 persons were sent to the court, two were sentenced to 12 years and 10 years of probation.
One of the examples given in the Prosecutor General’s Office is an application for an appeal and a cruel pretext by the Russian military servicemen in relation to a resident of the city of Kherson, who was illegally detained in the city detention center No. 1 in the period from August 13 to August 29, 2022 with the actual rape of the victim with a foreign object, as well as other types of sexual violence, such as torture with electric current through metal clips that were attached to the female organ of the victim. According to the procedural guidance of the Kherson district prosecutor’s office, an incriminating act was sent to the court regarding the mentioned military serviceman.
“Mobile working groups of prosecutors, prosecutors, international experts and psychologists systematically reveal new facts of sexual violence related to the conflict in the de-occupied territories. At the same time, the officially recorded number of cases of sexual violence does not reflect the scale of these crimes. After the de-occupation of the territory in the east and south of Ukraine, there is a clear pattern — wherever the Russian military was stationed, we observe cases of sexual violence related to the conflict,” Viktor Mysiak emphasized.