Prosecutors say captured Russian soldier raped woman for two months in occupied village
Ukrainian investigators have notified a Russian soldier that he is suspected of raping a local woman every night for two months during the occupation of a village in the Donetsk region. Ukrainian forces captured the man during a counteroffensive in December, rescuing the victim from further abuse, the Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor’s Office said.
According to investigators, the suspect is a private serving in Russia’s 114th Separate Motorised Rifle Brigade and is originally from the Sverdlovsk region. He signed a contract with the Russian military while serving a sentence in a penal colony.
In September 2025, he entered a village in the Pokrovsk District as part of an infantry group. To establish a position, the soldier and two fellow servicemen forced their way into the basement of a private house, where two civilians were sheltering from shelling. The occupiers practically turned the basement into their base.
Later, during another round of shelling, the man who had been sheltering there was killed, leaving the woman alone with the Russian troops.
Investigators said that from October onwards, the suspect systematically raped the woman. He immediately warned the victim that he would not tolerate resistance because he already had a criminal record and could kill her.
He also intimidated her by claiming that military commanders had ordered Russian troops to kill civilians. The abuse continued every night for two months.
Law enforcement authorities have charged the soldier with cruel treatment of civilians under Part 1 of Article 438 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code. If convicted, he faces a sentence of between eight and 12 years in prison.
Pavlo Uhrovetskyi, head of the Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor’s Office, said such crimes form part of a systematic policy pursued by the occupiers alongside killings and torture.
He said law enforcement authorities are currently investigating 26 cases of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) in the Donetsk Oblast. The victims include 17 women, three men, and six children. Ten of the cases involve rape.
The prosecutor said those responsible would inevitably be held accountable for the shattered futures of their victims.
Investigators and detectives from the Donetsk regional police are conducting the investigation.
In early March 2026, the Ukrainian government expanded the permitted use of funds deposited into the National Bank of Ukraine’s humanitarian account. Among other measures, the money will be directed towards payments for victims of conflict-related sexual violence.
In November 2024, the Verkhovna Rada passed a law defining the status of people affected by CRSV related to Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine and granting them urgent interim reparations. The law entered into force on 18 June 2025.
The EU’s 2025 progress report on Ukraine states that implementation of the law and stable funding have still not been secured.
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In December 2025, Deputy Social Policy Minister Liudmyla Shemelynets said the ministry was actively working on implementing regulations.
Among the issues still being finalised are the stages of implementing the mechanism, funding sources, and procedures for payments to victims of CRSV.
During the pilot project providing reparations to victims of CRSV in 2024 and 2025, authorities received 1,208 applications.
Victims of conflict-related sexual violence received payments of €3,000. The Global Survivors Fund (GSF), funded by various governments, provided these reparations.
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