Warning: descriptions of sexual violence
The UN commissioner for human rights has documented hundreds of cases of sexual violence perpetrated by Russian troops since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Two-thirds of the victims are men and boys who were tortured in Russian jails.
Russia deploys systematic sexual torture against Ukrainians, both civilians and prisoners of war, in “almost all” detention centres where they are held, the UN found.
That includes “rape, attempted rape, threats of rape and castration, beatings or the administration of electric shocks to genitals, repeated forced nudity and sexualised humiliation”.
“The numbers in Ukraine are quite startling,” said Charu Lata Hogg, the executive director of the All Survivors Project, which supports men and boys who have endured sexual violence.
It’s common knowledge that the Russian military practices sexual violence internally. They are similar to the English boarding school system in how widespread it is. If this behavior is practiced on their own brethren, why would it not be acceptable to apply it in war? The use of sexual violence as a weapon of war was guaranteed the moment war was declared. If Ukraine is able to maintain its sovereignty, they will need to invest heavily in mitigating the extended effects of this trauma, or they will have widespread societal issues for decades, if not longer.