Torture as a Tactic: The Systematic Abuse of Ukrainian Men by Russian Forces

The latest report from the Wall Street Journal reveals that Russia’s military campaign against Ukraine has evolved to include a disturbing core strategy: using sexual violence as a tool to break and terrorize soldiers and civilians. Since the full-scale invasion began in 2022, Russian forces have employed this tactic with alarming frequency.

According to UN data, at least 310 documented cases of alleged sexual violence by Russian forces during the war have been reported. These crimes include rape, gang rape, genital mutilation, electric shocks, and beatings to the genitals – all designed to inflict maximum psychological trauma on their victims. Of those abused, 280 were men, 26 were women, and four were girls.

The patterns of abuse suggest that these crimes are not isolated incidents but rather a deliberate feature of Russia’s military campaign. As David Schwendiman, a former international prosecutor who investigated war crimes in Bosnia, notes: “No one in command could claim under the circumstances not to have known what was happening, even if they did not give orders to those under their control to do it.”

Russian forces have used particularly insidious methods, including attaching old army field telephone wires to prisoners’ genitals and giving them electric shocks – a technique they refer to as a “call to Putin.” This brutal treatment has occurred in nine different camps inside Russia, with seven of them showing especially brutal treatment.

The Kremlin’s silence on this issue raises disturbing questions about the level of complicity among Russian authorities. The fact that Ukrainian forces have also been accused of mistreating Russian captives – albeit to a much lesser extent – adds complexity to the situation. According to UN reports, around half of Russian captives who spoke out said they had experienced some form of ill treatment, with less than 5 per cent claiming to have suffered sexual abuse.

The impact of these abuses will be felt for years to come. As Oleksiy Sivak, a Ukrainian man who was tortured and now runs a support group for victims, notes: “The trauma is still there. We need help, but it’s not just about physical wounds – it’s also about the psychological scars.”

As we watch this unfolding tragedy with growing horror, it’s essential to remember that these abuses are symptoms of a larger problem: the normalization of violence and torture in modern warfare. To prevent such atrocities from happening again, we must press for greater accountability from governments and military leaders who turn a blind eye to these crimes. We must also invest in programs that support survivors of torture and provide them with the help they need to rebuild their lives.

Russia’s continued use of sexual torture as a core tactic of warfare raises concerns about its intentions. As long as this remains a part of Russian military strategy, we can be sure that the trauma inflicted on Ukrainian men will only continue to grow.