The Special Representative of the United Nations Organization for Sexual Violence in Conflicts reported that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia in Ukraine, 124 cases of sexual violence have already been recorded.
According to Patten, the available data are “only the tip of the iceberg” and does not reflect the scale of sexual violence in the context of Russiaʼs war against Ukraine. According to her, the facts of sexual violence in the conditions of war are difficult to detect and investigate.
There are 3 reasons why it is impossible to know the exact number of cases of sexual violence.
“The first and obvious reason why this happens is that survivors of sexual violence consider this crime shameful and do not talk about it,” – said Matviychuk.
The second reason for which it is impossible to assess the scale of such crimes committed in Ukraine is that their number is too large. And the third reason is that citizens who remained in the occupied territories do not have the physical opportunity to report what happened to the law enforcement officers.
