Ukrainian women are increasingly subjected to domestic violence by Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers — The Guardian

In 2023, Ukrainian police registered around 300,000 cases of domestic violence across the country—an increase of 20% compared to the previous year.

This information was reported by The Guardian.

During the first two months of this year, the number of domestic violence complaints registered as criminal offenses increased by another 56%. However, “victims often prefer to remain silent when it involves military personnel.”

According to experts consulted by the publication, this is just the “tip of the iceberg.”

“The numbers don’t give the full picture. They only reflect the number of reports filed. We need to consider these figures in a broader context to understand the scale of the problem,” explained Massimo Diana, a representative of the United Nations Population Fund in Ukraine.

Analysts link the rise in this issue to the ongoing military conflict, which has psychologically traumatized Ukraine’s male population. However, as The Guardian found, women are less likely to report domestic violence when it involves war veterans.

“Some even apologize because they feel it’s not the right time or believe that their personal situation is not comparable to the war in the country,” said Ivanna Kovalchuk, a representative of the International Medical Corps.