Hundreds of civilians, POWs suffer sexual abuse in Ukraine war: UN

GENEVA: Hundreds of civilians and prisoners have been subjected to sexual violence and torture - overwhelmingly by Moscow's forces - since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the UN reported on Friday (Sep 18).

The UN Human Rights Office attributed 89 per cent of the documented cases to "Russian authorities - including members of the armed forces, the prison service and the national security service".

It blamed the remaining 11 per cent on "Ukrainian authorities", saying both countries should investigate promptly and bring perpetrators to justice.

"Some 1,004 cases of sexual violence were documented from Feb 24, 2022, when Russia's attack on Ukraine began, through to the end of July this year," the UN agency said in a report.

"Sexual violence has been used against civilians and prisoners of war (POWs) in Ukraine in a shocking pattern of torture, intimidation and coercion," it said.

The 20-page report is based on confidential interviews "with hundreds of victims and survivors of sexual violence committed by both parties", as well as court documents and official records.

"I am deeply alarmed by the prevalence of these abhorrent acts documented in our report, and fear that they are almost certainly continuing amid the unceasing violence we are witnessing every day in Ukraine," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement.

Danielle Bell, head of the UN rights office team in Ukraine, told reporters in Geneva the cases documented were "just a fraction of the reality", given that UN investigators were only able to talk to around 10 percent of prisonerss released by both sides and could not access regions of Ukraine controlled by Russian forces.

"Most of the victims of sexual violence were men, particularly in places of detention but women and children were also affected, primarily in occupied territory of Ukraine," the report said.

"The violations committed include gang rape, rape, genital mutilation, electric shocks and beatings to the genitals, and other degrading acts of a sexual nature."

The youngest rape survivor the UN documented was a four-year-old-girl and the oldest an 82-year-old woman. It blamed both cases on Russian authorities.

Almost half the violations attributed to Ukrainians against Russians and other foreign POWs also "comprised threats of sexual violence", the UN said.

Turk urged Russia to withdraw its military forces from Ukraine, in line with "binding international law".