Women prisoners recruited for the war spoke about sexualized violence at the front

Women prisoners recruited for the war spoke about sexualized violence at the front

An investigation into this was published by Verstka.

According to the outlet, the recruitment of women prisoners began in 2024. They are offered a one-year contract, a salary starting at 220,000 rubles, payments in case of injury, as well as a pardon and release from the remainder of their sentence. Several hundred women were sent to the war after training as military medics.

One commander told them that he could keep them working at the hospital instead of sending them to the front line if they came to him at night. Some women agreed, and later, according to a Verstka source, learned that the man could not influence the assignment of their duty stations.

One medic, Lyudmila Poltarakova, told the outlet that regiment commander Sergei Zhitkov first summoned her to give massages, and later began showing aggression. In February 2025, according to Poltarakova, the commander raped her. She claims the abuse continued throughout March.

Later, the woman was demanded to be sent to provide sexual services to another high-ranking military officer. Then Poltarakova caused a scandal, and she was transferred to another medical battalion after being forced to sign a paper stating that Zhitkov had not committed violence against her. The woman herself explained that she agreed out of fear for her дальнейшую службу.

In June 2026, Poltarakova officially reported the rape to a military prosecutor. After that, according to her, they tried to send her to the front line, and she feared that this was how they wanted to get rid of her.

It later became known that the woman is alive and is at the front line. A criminal case was opened against her for refusing to carry out an order to go on a combat mission. According to Verstka, no criminal case was opened on her rape complaint.

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