"I think I was actually lucky that my health deteriorated so much"

Ihor, a survivor of torture, including conflict-related sexual violence, during the Russian occupation of Kupiansk, spoke with Matthias Schmale, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Ukraine, one day before the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict.

"You try not to talk to anyone about anything, to hold yourself together, to stay tense and alert constantly, because watching others be interrogated and beaten in the cell is itself constant pressure and stress." 

Life under occupation

Ihor's war began long before 2022. Originally from Vinnytsia oblast, he moved to Kupiansk in 1989 to work for the railway, and spent the rest of his adult life there.

When Russian forces passed through Kupiansk on the very first day of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ihor kept working at the railway, guarding company property so it would not be looted. He also kept speaking out, at work and on the street, urging people not to cooperate with the russian authorities.

Soon after, he learned that FSB officers had visited his workplace asking about him. He stopped sleeping at home, moving between friends' apartments to avoid arrest.

Detention, torture, and a "press cell"

On 8 August, officers from the Luhansk occupation police broke into his apartment. "Three officers from the Luhansk police force broke into the apartment, and a search began, along with beatings," Ihor recalls. He was handcuffed and taken to the Kupiansk police station, where, before being placed in a cell, he was stripped naked in front of guards and a nurse. An act of humiliation he describes as the beginning of a deliberate process "meant to break a person down."

He was placed in what detainees called a "press cell", a cell built for four people that already held twenty when he arrived, with standing water covering the floor. "By the third day, my skin had broken out in irritation; I was covered head to toe in rashes because of all the standing water," he says. Despite repeatedly asking for medication for his diabetes and hypertension, he was refused: "There was no medicine, I was told, survive however you can."

From the cell, Ihor witnessed the torture of other detainees, including a young woman in the cell across from his who was taken out for questioning multiple times a day. "I understood that what I was going through wasn't as bad as what other people were enduring, especially that girl," he says.

After four days, he was taken for his own interrogation. "They put a bag over my head, handcuffed my hands behind my back, and led me to the interrogation. They started beating me right away," he recalls. The torture included beatings and electric shocks "to the ears, the legs, the chest, and finally the genitals." When he lost consciousness, his captors said: "That's enough, he'll die otherwise."

Ihor believes his deteriorating health is what ultimately saved him. "I think I was actually lucky that my health deteriorated so much — after the interrogation, when they saw I'd lost consciousness, they released me that Friday afternoon," he says. As he was released, he heard one of his captors say: "He needs to be thrown out, because he'll die in here." 

A second detention: the FSB

Ihor's ordeal did not end there. A week after his first release, FSB (Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation) officers came for him again. "At 4 a.m. they came, broke down the door, and it all started again, except this time they already knew far more about me," he says. Four masked FSB officers questioned him.

Throughout his detentions, his daughter in Kharkiv did not know whether he would survive. The day after he was first detained, she fled through Russia to Europe. "She knew they were going to take me, and she was very worried," Ihor says. During his first interrogation, when asked about her, he confirmed she was his daughter, not yet knowing she had already left the country. 

From survivor to advocate

Ihor now leads a community organization dedicated to helping other survivors from occupied territories.

 "That's my goal now, to find people who've been affected and give them as much help as possible, so they don't feel abandoned, without support, forgotten by everyone," he says. "Because they stood up for Ukraine... through our organization, we try to help them."

A message to the international community

"Enormous thanks to all the international organizations who care about what's happening to us and who help us, some from abroad, some from other regions of Ukraine," he says.

He also pointed to the practical obstacles his organization faces in facilitating documentation of Russia's crimes. "It's very hard for us right now to find survivors willing to give testimony, so they can provide statements to document Russia's crimes. We're losing time, in finding help, in finding them, because of a lack of funding and a lack of resources," he says.  

Ihor also spoke of what international attention means for the survivors his organization supports. "I see how they try to help us, I see that they genuinely care. That matters a great deal to us, because we pass that sense of support on to the people we help, to the members of our organization. We tell them: we're not alone, people are helping us," he says. "When you see that people are thinking of you, caring about you, trying to help, that means a lot"

This year, for the first time, the UN Secretary-General's annual report on conflict-related sexual violence listed Russia in its annex among parties that must be held accountable for these crimes, a development Ihor links directly to survivors' willingness to speak out. "That's all thanks to interviews like this one, thanks to people who aren't afraid to speak out," he says. 

UN support for survivor networks

Since May 2022, the United Nations and the Government of Ukraine have worked under a Framework of Cooperation on the Prevention and Response to Conflict-Related Sexual Violence, which underpins a coordinated, survivor-centred national response involving government institutions, UN agencies and civil society organizations like the one Ihor now leads.  

Within that framework, UN entities have trained more than 230 healthcare providers, civil servants and case managers in trauma-informed, survivor-centred care, alongside 264 legal aid specialists, strengthening referral pathways to survivor relief centres and rehabilitation services across the country. UNFPA's Aurora platform now offers survivors of gender-based and conflict-related sexual violence remote access to specialised psychotherapy anywhere in Ukraine, including non-government-controlled areas and from abroad. In November 2024, developed jointly by the government, civil society and the UN, Ukraine adopted Law No. 4067, introducing urgent interim reparations for CRSV survivors. Once a compensation mechanism is established and the law is fully implemented, Ukraine will become the first country to deliver such reparations during an active war. 

Call for justice

Ihor and the survivors he works with continue to wait for accountability. 

"We still hope for justice, that it won't pass us by," as the conversation closed.  

Ihor continues to push for speed and rigor in documenting what happened to him and others like him: "It's so important that we move quickly, that we don't waste time, that we respond as fast as possible, gather this evidence, and document these cases."

Sustained international engagement, full implementation of urgent interim reparations for survivors, timely funding, and continued support for survivor-led organizations like the one Igor now leads are essential to documenting conflict-related sexual violence in Ukraine and ensuring accountability for the crimes committed during Russia's occupation.