UN has recorded 376 sexual violence cases related to Russian war against Ukraine
A total of 376 cases of sexual violence have been documented during Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) reported on Nov. 25.
The figure includes 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.
"War-related sexual violence is a violation of international human rights, humanitarian and criminal law," the mission said.
"Preventing this kind of violence and bringing perpetrators to justice is a shared responsibility based on states' human rights obligations."
In April, Ukraine's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Sergiy Kyslytsya told the U.N. Security Council that Russia uses sexual violence as a weapon against civilians and prisoners of war.
Citing testimonies from people released from Russian captivity, Kyslytsya said that over 50 percent of detainees suffered torture, rape, or other forms of sexual violence.
The Kyiv Independent in June identified two Russian soldiers who were involved in the rape of two women during the occupation of Kyiv and Kherson oblasts in March 2022. Subsequently, Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office charged one of them, Mykola Senenko, with raping a woman in Kherson Oblast.
Olesia Bida
