For many years, investigators have been documenting Russian atrocities in Ukraine, one crime at a time. Taken together, these investigations reveal a far larger and more disturbing pattern, with the scale, reach, and severity of the violence escalating dramatically following Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Since 2022, United Nations investigators have documented mass detentions and the industrial-scale torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians. Human rights organizations have exposed the largest forced deportation of children since World War II. Ukrainian prosecutors have cataloged vast networks of filtration camps and the ruthless eradication of Ukrainian national identity in regions under Russian occupation.
Most recently, The Wall Street Journal has documented systematic sexual violence against Ukrainians in Russian detention, mirroring longstanding evidence of similar abuses against women and children in occupied Ukraine. Survivors describe brutal assaults and other acts intended to ensure they would no longer be physically or psychologically capable of having children.
These most recent revelations of routine sexual violence against prisoners should shock every reader. But they should not surprise us. Instead, they should be seen as reinforcing an already overwhelming body of evidence showing the same deliberate effort to inflict lasting harm on Ukrainians.
