UN blacklists Russian forces over sexual violence against Ukrainian POWs, civilian detainees

Russian armed and security forces have for the first time been added to a United Nations blacklist of parties suspected of committing or being responsible for sexual violence in conflict, the Associated Press reported on May 29, citing an annual U.N. report expected to be released imminently.

The 35-page report blacklists 77 government and non-government parties in a dozen countries and says the number of documented cases of conflict-related sexual violence rose substantially in 2025 compared with 2024, according to the report.

The report found that despite Russia's refusal to grant access to U.N. human rights investigators, they were still able to independently verify 310 cases of conflict-related sexual violence in Russia and Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory. The victims were prisoners of war (POWs) and civilian detainees, the vast majority of them men, the report said.

The designation follows years of documentation — by Ukraine, the U.N. human rights organizations and journalists — of sexual violence against Ukrainians in Russian captivity.

In November 2024, the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said it had documented 376 cases of sexual violence during Russia's full-scale war. The figure included 262 men, most of whom were tortured in captivity on occupied territories or in Russia, 104 women, as well as children — 10 girls and two boys, according to the report.

Previously, a U.N. commission of inquiry said in March 2024 that Russian torture of Ukrainian POWs was "widespread and systematic." The report detailed several “horrific” cases with testimony from victims describing “relentless, brutal treatment inflicting severe pain and suffering during prolonged detention.”

Human rights monitors documented 31 cases of conflict-related sexual violence against POWs and civilian detainees in Ukraine, most of which occurred before 2025, according to AP's summary of the report. Ukraine was not placed on the U.N. blacklist.

Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia rejected the allegations, calling them "unsubstantiated lies," AP reported. He said Russia was preparing its own report on the treatment of Russian POWs by Ukraine.

The same report also added Israel's armed and security forces to the blacklist for the first time over the alleged treatment of Palestinian detainees, AP reported. Israel denied the accusations.

According to AP, the report said the U.N. documented "patterns of sexual violence" against Palestinians detained in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, including verified incidents involving 14 men, seven women, nine boys, and one girl from Gaza and the West Bank. The report said 13 cases occurred in 2025 and 18 occurred in 2023 and 2024.

The report also again includes accusations of sexual violence by Hamas, though it said many details could not be independently confirmed because Israel has denied U.N. investigators the access needed to conduct inquiries, AP reported.

Both Russia and Israel had been warned in last year's report by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that they could be added to the blacklist, according to AP.