The ongoing war in Ukraine has given rise to a hidden crisis: a significant increase in domestic violence.
The national police data, previously undisclosed and recently reviewed by Reuters, reveals a disturbing trend.
The first five months of 2023 saw a 51% surge in registered domestic violence cases compared to the same period in 2022.
This figure is also a third higher than the record set in 2020, a year marked by pandemic lockdowns.
Experts attribute this alarming rise to factors such as heightened stress, economic hardship, unemployment, and trauma related to the conflict.
“People lost everything,” said Kateryna Levchenko, Ukraine’s commissioner for gender policy, explaining the increase as a result of “psychological tension and a lot of difficulties.”
The victims are predominantly women, according to over a dozen officials and experts in the field.
The data shows that from January to May 2023, police registered 349,355 cases of domestic violence, a significant increase from 231,244 during the same period in 2022 and 190,277 in the first five months of 2021.
However, experts fear that the actual numbers could be much higher.
A case worker at a relief center in Dnipro, run by the government and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), revealed that only around 35% of the 800 people they have supported since September have filed complaints with the police.
Tetyana Pogorila, a psychologist at the centre, highlighted the additional challenges faced by those displaced by the war.
The unfamiliar environment and deteriorating financial situations can make victims more dependent on their abusers, she said.
“People arrive and the family might be living together in one room,” Pogorila explained. “Some find work, some don’t and so their financial situation deteriorates. Add this to the global situation of the county and anxiety; this increases stress and conflict.”
The war has also strained state resources.
Levchenko noted that some women’s shelters have been repurposed to house people displaced by fighting, and some of the state budget allocated for gender-based violence was redirected to defense spending.
The funding allocation dropped to 4.2 million euros this year from around 10 million euros in 2021.
The lack of funds has social service workers worried.
“We are expecting a very high rate of violence,” said Lilia Kalytiuk, director of the Dnipro center for social services.
