Ukraine

Thousands of Ukrainian women have been killed, over one million have been internally displaced, and 6.7 million now require humanitarian assistance. Women and girls comprise the majority of refugees and internally displaced persons. Women’s organizations—despite their critical frontline role—receive less than 1 percent of international aid, a gap now widened by US foreign aid cuts. Women have also been historically underrepresented in peace negotiations and have faced harassment and bias when serving in leadership roles. At the same time, women’s contributions are reshaping Ukraine’s wartime and civic landscape; nearly 100,000 women serve in Ukraine’s army, many have entered previously male-dominated sectors, and women started more than half of all new businesses in 2024. Building upon women’s Nobel-prize-winning efforts to document war crimes, including sexual violence, Ukraine became the first wartime country to provide interim reparations to survivors. Survivors of sexual violence have also submitted an official letter to the UN Secretary-General demanding that Russia be added to the UN “List of Shame” for perpetrating sexual violence.

The war continues to intensify, as Russia seeks to seize additional Ukrainian territory ahead of any future talks and spread discord throughout Europe. Ukrainian women and girls living in the more than 20 percent of territory under Russian occupation are at particular risk of abuse, with virtually no oversight or access to services. As Ukraine looks toward potential negotiations and long-term recovery, Ukrainian women are key architects of the country’s future. Civil society leaders have prepared a 10-Point Compact for Just and Sustainable Peace, urging the full inclusion of women in negotiations and warning that any settlement that freezes occupation lines without security guarantees would endanger women’s safety and undermine Ukraine’s future.

Russia’s mid-May aerial escalation has sharply increased civilian protection risks and casualties, with Ukrainian officials reporting massive waves of drone and missile attacks against cities and communities across the country. Recent attacks have further damaged residential areas, energy sites, and other critical infrastructure, with civilians targeted in frontline areas. These attacks are compounding already severe gendered harms: the first three months of 2026 marked the deadliest winter for women and girls since the first year of the full-scale invasion, with 199 women and girls killed between January and March.  Women’s civilian casualties rose 27 percent in 2025 compared with 2024, underscoring how aerial warfare impacts women on the frontlines and in urban areas.

A clearly marked UN humanitarian convoy was targeted several times and struck by drones in Kherson on May 14 while delivering aid, highlighting the risks facing humanitarian operations in frontline areas. As drone attacks restrict movement and make aid delivery more dangerous, civilians who rely on food, medicine, evacuation support, and protection services face growing isolation. Women, older people, those with disabilities, and women-led households are likely to be disproportionately affected as humanitarian access narrows and local volunteer networks absorb more frontline risk. At the same time, nearly eight in ten women’s organizations report that funding cuts are seriously affecting their work, threatening access to survivor services, protection mechanisms, and humanitarian support just as women and girls face escalating risks.

Ukraine’s parliament advanced a draft Civil Code in its first reading on April 28, prompting criticism from human rights groups over provisions that could roll back equality protections and expand judicial discretion in private family matters. Earlier versions reportedly allowed marriage from age 14 by court decision in cases of pregnancy or childbirth—a provision later removed. The draft also excludes same-sex partnerships from marriage recognition, relies on a vague “good morals” standard, and would allow a former husband to seek restoration of his ex-wife’s maiden name based on alleged conduct during marriage. It also proposes a mandatory reconciliation process for divorcing parents, raising concerns for survivors trying to exit unsafe relationships. For women and girls, these provisions could weaken legal protections for survivors, restrict autonomy within and after marriage, and increase barriers to leaving abusive households at a time when war-related displacement and economic strain are already heightening protection risks.

Negotiations remain frozen despite limited de-escalatory steps, including a brief May 9–11 truce and a May 15 exchange in which Russia and Ukraine each released 205 prisoners of war as part of a broader planned 1,000-for-1,000 swap. However, the truce expired without a longer ceasefire agreement, and continued Russian attacks have underscored that these limited steps have not meaningfully reduced civilian harm. As Russian forces continue to occupy large areas of Ukrainian territory, women and girls face acute harms—including conflict-related sexual violence, arbitrary detention, coercive documentation practices, and economic exclusion—while any future settlement involving territorial concessions could further limit access to justice and sustain conditions in which gender-based violence remains underreported and inadequately addressed.

Ukraine’s Defense Procurement Agency purchased 2,000 modular body armor vests designed for women for the first time, marking a concrete step toward addressing long-standing equipment gaps for women serving in the Armed Forces. The purchase follows years of advocacy by groups such as Arm Women Now, founded by Iryna Nykorak, which supplied women service members with properly fitted uniforms and equipment while pushing for state provision. The new vests are adapted for women’s anatomy—protecting the chest, back, sides, neck, and groin. However, with more than 55,000 women serving in Ukraine’s Armed Forces as of March 2026, the procurement remains far below need, underscoring the importance of scaling gender-responsive equipment so women can participate safely and effectively in defense and recovery efforts.

Efforts to establish a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine have progressed beyond political agreement to operational planning, with legal groundwork largely complete and an advance team preparing for launch. Backed by a growing coalition of states, the Tribunal—expected to become operational as early as 2027—would provide a forum for addressing conflict-related harms against women and girls, including sexual crimes. This tribunal would be the first of its kind since World War II and a key venue to hold Russian senior leadership accountable.