Voices from Ukraine

About the Voices from Ukraine Initiative

Voices from Ukraine is an in-depth qualitative analysis that examines women's and girls' experiences and gender-based violence (GBV) in Ukraine in 2024. The study uses a proven global methodology that has been successfully implemented across various humanitarian settings, including war-affected contexts. Voices from Ukraine 2024 was led by UNFPA in collaboration with GBV Area of Responsibility (AoR) partners and marks the first year of this initiative in Ukraine.

The Voices research provides vital insights into GBV forms and risks in Ukraine that quantitative approaches and analyses might overlook in order to inform the humanitarian needs overview. The Voices from Ukraine report identifies critical gaps and priorities for humanitarian programming, policy, and advocacy. It provides specific recommendations for humanitarian actors, donors, and policymakers focused on GBV risk mitigation and improving survivors' safe access to services and support.

Drawing primarily from direct quotes from women and girls across Ukraine, the findings offer powerful insights into their daily lives under war, risks of violence they face, and strategies for finding support. Voices also speaks to the resilience and perseverance of women and girls in Ukraine – despite the mounting challenges and risks they face – and their hopes and dreams for the future. Voices from Ukraine serves as an essential resource for GBV programming, humanitarian interventions, policy development, strategic planning, and future research.

Voices from Ukraine serves as an essential resource for GBV programming, humanitarian interventions, policy development, strategic planning, and future research.

“We don’t really talk about that kind of stuff. This is the first time we have been able to discuss it out loud like this.” — Displaced Woman with a Disability or Сaregiver in a Rural Area, Lviv region

In 2024, a pilot study of Voices from Ukraine was conducted in four regions of Ukraine through participatory consultations with women and girls, as well as men and boys, other groups in communities, and GBV experts. The study included Kharkiv region in the East, Kherson region in the South, and Lviv and Zakarpattia regions in the West. Focus group discussions were organized in two  communities per  region to examine differences between urban and rural contexts.

The study reveals harrowing realities faced by women and girls across Ukraine, emphasizing the urgent need for increased attention and resources to address this crisis. At its core, the research highlights the critical importance of ensuring women's and girls' meaningful participation, inclusion, and empowerment in humanitarian processes.

By understanding risks of GBV in the context and the challenges survivors face in seeking support, we can better understand barriers to accessing humanitarian assistance. This allows us to develop safe and inclusive humanitarian assistance approaches, implement effective GBV mitigation measures, and work toward more survivor-centred care.

The Impact of War on Risks of Violence

Increasing Risks and New Forms of GBV Fuelled by the War

The ongoing war in Ukraine creates new forms of gender-based violence while intensifying existing ones. This increase in violence comes as women and girls face diminished coping abilities and restricted access to survivor support services and humanitarian assistance.

“The war. The war itself is increasing risks of violence, people are frightened, people are confused.” — Displaced Woman in a Collective Site, Kharkiv region

The ongoing insecurity, prolonged displacement, and disrupted essential services due to destruction of civilian infrastructure have created a stressful environment, which has fuelled an increase in GBV Restricted mobility and prolonged cohabitation intensify household tensions, leading to increased domestic violence, with intimate partner violence particularly prevalent. At the same time, women and girls feel increasingly unsafe outside their homes, facing heightened risks of sexual violence in public spaces, transportation, transit sites, and collective shelters, especially where shelling has cut electricity and left streets unlit. Economic hardship, rising prices, and family separation further compound these challenges, escalating the risks of technology-facilitated GBV, trafficking, and sexual and labour exploitation, including sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA). 

Communities often turn to substance abuse as a response to war-related distress and difficult living conditions, creating a vicious cycle that fuels intimate partner and domestic abuse and sexual violence. Women and girls in frontline areas expressed ongoing fears of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), with survivors of CRSV and abuse committed by men returning from war facing steep barriers to disclose violence and seek support.

Compounded Risks for Marginalized Women and Girls

Women and girls from marginalized groups and LGBTIQ+ persons in Ukraine face heightened risks of GBV and significant barriers to accessing GBV services and humanitarian assistance. These groups are often overlooked in the design of GBV programming and wider humanitarian response. The study highlights struggles and challenges that can lead vulnerable women and girls to experience violence and be left behind from GBV services and humanitarian assistance.

• Crowding, lack of privacy, the stress of poor living conditions, and insufficient safety measures contribute to a rising level of intimate partner and domestic violence and risks of sexual violence for displaced women and girls, particularly in collective and transit sites. 
• Older women can lack family support and often struggle to access information, assistance, and survivor support services due to limited mobility, technological illiteracy, and entrenched gender norms. Due to these factors, older women frequently experience economic violence, domestic abuse, and scams. 

• Women and girls with disabilities also face elevated risks of violence and barriers to access support because of dependence on others, mobility constraints, and limited access to information.
• Adolescent girls were identified to be at high risk of technology-facilitated GBV, as well as domestic and sexual violence. 
• For Roma women and girls, pressures to maintain family and community privacy, limited decision-making power, and discrimination create significant obstacles for survivors of IPV and DV to accessing GBV services. While there has been progress made over the years prior to the war, child marriage and adolescent pregnancy continue to be a concern among Roma and rural communities, with factors commonly considered to be drivers growing due to the crisis. 
• Women and girls in rural and frontline areas face significant challenges to access information, services, and assistance as a result of the insecurity, poor infrastructure, and limited public transportation. 

• LGBTIQ+ persons face risks of outing, blackmail, and increased aggression in public spaces — problems intensified by backlash against diverse SOGIESC (Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, and Sex Characteristics) visibility and growing militarization in society. 
• Limited targeted services and entry points were reported for LGBTIQ+ persons and male survivors.

Left Behind: Barriers for Women and Girls to Access Humanitarian Assistance and Services

Across Ukraine's regions, women and girls encounter persistent obstacles in safely accessing humanitarian assistance and services. Information barriers and challenges in registration are widespread — many lack awareness of available aid and do not receive timely information, particularly those with limited digital literacy. Online scams, fraud, and theft create additional risks. Physical and infrastructure challenges pose major hurdles, including unsafe and limited transportation, electricity cuts, and exposure to shelling while waiting at distribution points. Long queues and crowding at distributions and service facilities further complicate safe access for women and girls and other at-risk groups. Additional barriers for women and girls include the cost of travelling to distribution sites, fees for services, lack of time due to gendered household responsibilities, and the challenge of arranging childcare while seeking assistance. As vulnerabilities of households deepen, risks of discrimination and SEA are increasing, particularly in areas with limited monitoring presence. 

“Something has to be done about the queue, because even a healthy person can’t stand it. I have a child with autism, he can’t be in crowds. It would be ideal if we could be appointed for a certain hour and that there are no other people at this time.” — Displaced Woman with a Disability or Caregiver in a Rural Area, Lviv region

Beyond the Physical: Access Barriers to GBV Services

Survivors of GBV often do not disclose violence and are afraid to seek help due to fear and shame. Survivors in Ukraine face significant challenges when seeking and accessing essential GBV services, with war-related factors contributing to the barriers they face. These access barriers take both tangible and intangible forms — each equally important to address.

Physical barriers restrict direct access to services and increase the risks that survivors face while trying to seek support. Survivors struggle with limited service availability, lack of accessible transportation (especially in rural and heavily conflict-affected areas), electricity blackouts, costs related to transportation and private service providers, and broader access constraints due to security and logistical challenges.

“A situation where violence is normalized can often occur in villages. And people in villages often don’t have access to services and assistance, and they don’t even know that they can tell someone about this.” — Displaced Adolescent Girl, Lviv region

Less visible barriers also prevent survivors from seeking help. These include victim-blaming attitudes, the normalization of violence, fears of retaliation, and distrust of authorities and service providers. Common misconceptions about GBV and poor awareness of available services and options – particularly entry points for support apart from law enforcement – compound these obstacles. Dependence on perpetrators and fear of being alone during wartime – as well as avoidance of potential conscription of perpetrators and idealization of men returning as heroes from the war – contribute further to the reluctance of survivors to speak up. Survivors often face social pressure to stay silent and deprioritize GBV during times of war. 

“Survivors keep silent, don’t report to the police (although children witnessed violence) because there was an experience when the police didn’t take a report.” — Woman with a Disability/Caregiver, Lviv