Iryna Dovhan: People are somehow horrified when they hear about raped female pensioners. But there are dozens of them.
The same civilian woman who was arrested by the occupiers in 2014 for assisting the Ukrainian army, wrapped in the Ukrainian flag, and tied to a pole in Donetsk, now leads SEMA Ukraine – an association of women who have survived captivity and conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV).
Recently, Iryna, who had been diagnosed with a malignant tumor, received medical data that the disease had receded. This gave her even more strength to continue searching for and helping those who have endured violence.
The photo of Iryna Dovhan tied to a pole in Donetsk in 2014 caused a huge outcry not only in Ukraine but around the world. That image, in fact, saved her life. When the world saw how the captors were torturing a civilian woman, the same people who claimed to be "liberating Donbas" and defending those who wanted the "Russian world", the battalion commander, traitor Oleksandr Khodakovskyi, who had sworn an oath to the Ukrainian people and served in the elite SSU "Alpha" unit, released the resident of Yasynuvata in a show of mercy. She fled to Mariupol, where her husband and daughter were waiting. The entire family later relocated near Kyiv.
Since then, Iryna has given dozens, if not hundreds, of interviews, recounting the five days she spent in captivity and describing in detail the torture and humiliation. Along with other women from Donetsk who had survived sexual violence, she provided testimony in European courts, as previously reported by Censor.NET.
During the full-scale invasion, little was heard about Iryna. The stories of those captured in 2014 were soon overshadowed by the atrocities committed by Russian forces in the newly occupied territories. Not long ago, Censor.NET reported on Halyna Tyshchenko, who in 2015 moved with her family from Kramatorsk to the Kyiv region. The pensioner became a victim of Russian tank crews stationed behind her home. A 25-year-old soldier humiliated and raped the elderly woman, taking pleasure in his power over her... And there are hundreds of such stories across the country. It is these women whom Iryna Dovhan now helps, once again living up to her title of People’s Hero of Ukraine, which she received in 2016.
She did not stop working with women even after she was diagnosed with a malignant tumour. We spoke with Iryna about how and where she was treated, how she finds survivors who join her organization, and why it is so important to speak openly about sexual violence. But we started with her illness.
"MY CHEST ACHED FOR SEVERAL MONTHS AFTER CAPTIVITY"
- How and when did you discover the tumor in your breast?
- It all started with our work to find survivors of sexual violence in the Kherson region… We already knew about several cases when we were told about a small village where a 17-year-old girl had been raped. We went there. Just before that trip, I received a grant that allowed us to give identified survivors some gifts, large food packages and warm things, specifically blankets. It was autumn 2023, cold and damp. But our first attempt didn’t work out. For several months, I tried to establish contact with the girl’s family, but they absolutely refused to talk. At some point, the head of the village council called to say the mother and daughter were ready to meet. So we went again. It was pouring rain, freezing cold. I talked to the girl a little in the car. I didn’t ask her about anything painful, just told her that if she ever needed help, we were there. I explained which organization I represent and that if she wanted, we could send her on a trip to Switzerland, where we have a good connection with an old monastery that hosts retreats for our women. It’s a peaceful, beautiful place — a place to rest your soul. You can even play a church organ there that dates back to the year 1300. She said it sounded wonderful. I asked what kind of help she needed. She said she was worried about her father, who was often sick and coughing, but she herself was fine. I gave her a blanket and told her: "May it keep you warm at night and wrap around you like the embrace of women who have gone through the same and understand how hard it is for you. We are with you in spirit." Later, she wrote to me saying that every time she falls asleep under that blanket, she remembers my words and truly feels those warm embraces.
But the girl didn’t tell me anything about what had happened to her. She only said briefly that she felt deeply resentful toward her father for not taking her away, for leaving them under occupation. Her classmate, who lived nearby, had been evacuated by her parents in time. And nothing happened to her. This family didn’t leave right away because they had two cows. They couldn’t save them, one was blown up in a minefield, and the other was wounded by shelling and had to be slaughtered. They also kept chickens, geese, a large household. These people couldn’t just abandon everything on the first day of the war. No one can be blamed for that…
After talking to the girl, I had a long conversation with her mother. She was more frank, telling me in detail that they hid their daughter in the basement, covered her with sacks of potatoes, and threw some other things on top when they were searching. They managed to hide their daughter in this way for two or three months. Later, there was an arrangement that the Russians would allow those wishing to leave for Ukrainian-controlled territory to go. Cars from different villages gathered near the watermelon monument. Five or six vehicles came from their village. The girl’s parents also joined the convoy, of course taking her with them. When the commander of the Russian unit stationed in the village inspected their car, he saw the girl. The entire convoy was turned back, no one was allowed to leave. The next day, the commander came back himself to conduct a search. He seized the girl’s phone and later claimed he had found evidence that she had been passing information to the Armed Forces of Ukraine — that she was adjusting fire, and that’s why Russian positions were being hit. Her parents explained that the girl hadn’t left the basement for two months and that her phone had been switched off. It truly had been off. There was nothing on it. But that commander returned and took the girl away for interrogation. He drove her around in his vehicle and forced her to drink a glass or two of vodka. When she was drunk, he raped her. At that time, the girl was a virgin...
The parents were tormented by guilt. They understood what had happened. Their child’s life was ruined… I didn’t ask whether he continued to abuse her. The mother wept uncontrollably as she spoke about it.
When you hear something like this, you absorb every word. As a mother of a daughter yourself, you can’t help but put yourself in that place. And you can’t shut those thoughts out.
After that meeting, we spent the night in Vysokopillia, staying with a survivor we had met earlier. She always gives us shelter whenever we come to the Kherson region. I couldn’t sleep that night, I kept replaying the conversation in my mind. My heart ached, or so it felt. I had my hand on my chest, and suddenly, under my fingers, I felt a lump. At first, I didn’t understand what it was. It was located between my breasts, closer to the right one. I could clearly feel it, about the size of a small walnut. I lay there thinking how something like that could have appeared so suddenly. Later, during the examination, the doctor told me the tumor had likely been growing for at least two years. It’s just that in the early months of the full-scale invasion, we were all in such a state that no one had time for self-checks or medical tests, we were constantly running, driving somewhere, doing whatever we could to help save the country.
It was Sunday. By Tuesday, I was already at the Spizhenko Clinic. In one appointment, I underwent all the necessary tests, and during the ultrasound, I could see for myself that the tumor looked like a blurred blotch. The doctor had no doubt it was malignant. An MRI later confirmed it, as the mass absorbed contrast, another bad sign. Ten days later, the biopsy confirmed that the tumor was indeed cancerous.
- Did you ask the doctors where it could have come from?
Within our organization, I had taken part several times in events with gynecologists who explained that some diseases can be linked to experiences of rape… But my case wasn’t considered related to what I went through in 2014. About a month after my release, I went to the hospital and asked for a chest X-ray because the part of my chest where they had kicked me still hurt. The doctor seemed confused by my complaint, as if he wasn’t prepared to hear something like that. He tried to convince me that an X-ray wouldn’t show anything anymore, so there was no need for extra radiation. But my chest kept hurting for several months after captivity.
Iryna hates the photographs taken in Donetsk in August 2014. Her name is always mentioned alongside those images. Yet she admits that the publication of those photos saved her life.
In all my interviews, I’ve said that the most brutal of them was an Ossetian man who forced me to stand straight and then leapt up and kicked me in the chest. I would be thrown back and fall, unable to breathe for a long time. It was an unbearable feeling. He repeated it several times. And it was in that very spot that, seven years later, a tumor "somehow" appeared.
That Ossetian was captured in one of the photos taken near the pole. Later, we identified many of my torturers. But there was nothing to be found online about that particular man. I know nothing about him. He doesn’t appear in any other photographs.
- You said that all your other tormentors…
- ...yes, they’re already dead.
"AFTER CHEMOTHERAPY, BEFORE RADIATION, I FLEW TO NEW YORK – THE COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN WAS MEETING THERE, AND IT WAS SOMETHING I COULDN’T MISS"
- You were treated in Ireland…
- The treatment protocol I began in Kyiv didn’t include the targeted therapy I needed. Since it was impossible to afford 18 courses of that medication, I went to Ireland, where treatment turned out to be free. Despite the illness and the demanding therapy, I tried to keep working, at least by attending important forums and meetings. So, after my first round of chemotherapy, I went to Geneva, because I serve on the board of a global survivors’ fund. As of today, that fund has paid reparations to more than 700 survivors of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) in Ukraine. The funding comes from France, Belgium, and other European countries. Only four survivors from around the world sit on that board, so it was crucial not to miss the session. Especially since Ukraine has become the first country in the world where survivors of sexual violence committed by the aggressor are receiving assistance during the war, before it ends! In many other countries, such aid began only 15 years after conflicts had ended. But help is needed now, immediately. That’s why attending these meetings, sharing what’s happening in our country, and speaking about the survivors is so important.
When my medical data was reviewed in Ireland, where I arrived after Geneva, the doctors said the tumor had to be removed first. After surgery, they prescribed five months of chemotherapy, followed by a one-month break and a course of radiation, 30 sessions in total.
I can say what every cancer patient says: life after chemotherapy will never be the same as before. Your body works differently. Anything can happen at any moment, even when you think you’re feeling fine. But I’m living proof that life goes on after chemotherapy. I admit I used to think that after cancer treatment, a person turns into a shadow of themselves, waiting for death. I had a stereotypical idea that returning to an active life afterward was impossible. But now I can honestly say, I’m doing even more than I did before treatment!
After chemotherapy, before radiation, I flew to New York. The Commission on the Status of Women was meeting there. Every March, for ten days, the United Nations dedicates this session to gender equality. And where else should one speak about sexual violence during armed conflicts if not there? Filmmaker and director Alisa Kovalenko, who herself survived captivity and sexual violence in occupied Kramatorsk in 2014 and I were included in the official government delegation. But just before the flight… we were excluded. That meant we wouldn’t be able to enter the UN building! Officially, the state was supposed to cover our travel and accommodation costs. Perhaps that’s why we were excluded; maybe there wasn’t enough money for us. I don’t know the exact sums involved, but in the end, there was no need for the government to pay the Mukwege Foundation covered all expenses. For a week, we wandered around like orphans, trying to find a way to get accreditation for the UN. Eventually, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs provided it, but only in the second week. Until then, we worked independently: visiting embassies, speaking at universities, showing a documentary about Ukrainian women to the diaspora, giving interviews. But when we finally entered the UN, the main events were already over, only side discussions remained. And we weren’t included in any of them! Women from Mali, Uganda, and other small countries were speaking, repeating the same phrases about how happy they were to support women. Alisa and I were losing our minds, we had so much to say about the extraordinary Ukrainian women who refuse to stay silent, who have united, but we had no opportunity to speak.
Still, there was one important thing we managed to do during that trip: we brought and distributed leaflets at the UN containing a QR code that linked to our petition to include Russia on the list of terrorist states, the so-called shame list. This was already the second such petition; the first one addressed the issue of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia. This new one was drafted by organizations that support survivors of conflict-related sexual violence. This kind of work, drafting such documents and collecting signatures, is invisible. But two months ago, the UN Security Council finally issued a condemnation of Russia and conclusions on its war crimes. And a month later, the UN Secretary-General himself released a statement warning Russia: if the number of CRSV cases continues to grow, Russia will be added to the list of terrorist states. This is gradual but extremely important work and it is the result of long, unseen efforts, including our own.
- You speak openly about what happened to you in captivity…
- I think it was only after the liberation of villages in the Kyiv region in 2022 that I began telling these women that I had gone through the same thing. That there is life after what we’ve endured. That it’s possible to understand why life is worth living. Even to want to live happily, not as someone who’s been crushed. None of us are to blame for what happened to us. So why should I feel ashamed of it? I keep repeating this to the women who have survived sexual violence.
RAPE IS ONE OF THE METHODS OF GENOCIDE AGAINST UKRAINIANS
- How many women have you brought together?
- Before 2022, SEMA Ukraine had 15 members. After the full-scale invasion, that number grew significantly. I went across the Kyiv region searching for survivors while Russian tanks were still smoldering on the roads. Our goal was to find people willing to testify to the Prosecutor General’s Office, because abroad I have to speak about these cases. But I’m constantly asked: "Your organization has only 60 women. That’s so few. You say there are thousands." I have to explain that I’m searching for them alone. And finding 45 women who agreed to speak, that’s already enormous work...
- You found the first woman after the Russian offensive...
- ...in the Kyiv region. No matter which village we went to, the first thing people started telling us about was the rape victims. But these women themselves avoided contact and were not going to tell us anything. It was from the fellow villagers that we learned about the raped mother and daughter. The mother went to the commander of the Russian occupiers and tried to talk to him about her son, whom they had killed. But instead of information about him, one night, five Russians came to her house and raped both her and her daughter... They testified...
On the neighbouring street, we heard another terrible story: a father was killed and his daughter was raped. The girl came to our fields, left for Poland and never returned home...
It’s a common pattern. Young women don’t come forward. Once, Austrian journalists asked Halyna Tyshchenko, a pensioner who was raped by Russian tank crewmen: "How can you speak about it so openly?" She replied: "What do I have to lose? My family knows everything and supports me. I don’t have a husband. Who should I be ashamed in front of? On the contrary, I want the whole world to know about it. And I want to be the voice of those young women who remain silent."
In our organisation, there is Mefodiivna, a woman from the Kherson region who was raped when she was 75 years old. During my first conversation with her, I asked: "Are you ready to talk about this?" She replied: "I have been a teacher all my life. I taught three generations of my fellow villagers. I used to walk down the street and everyone, from young to old, would greet me. And then those beasts came and did this to me, to a respectable woman. I’m ready to scream about it to the whole world," she said. And she does scream. She hasn’t refused a single foreign journalist. I believe that the case of Mefodiivna is one of the most heartbreaking, it leaves no one indifferent.
Mefodiivna remained under occupation for a long time with her 40-year-old daughter. They owned a large farm with tractors and equipment. They tried to save what they could, knowing that the homes abandoned by others were looted almost instantly. As long as people stayed in their houses, they could at least try to protect their property, go to the local commander, file a complaint. But the circle was tightening.
Mefodiivna told me how one day an APC or a tank drove up. She and her daughter Olha were in the yard. And the occupiers looked at them for a long time from that vehicle. The next morning, their neighbors were leaving. Mefodiivna sent Olha with them. The same night, a rapist came to her. He had most likely come looking for the daughter. But he took what was there… The torturer knocked out the woman’s teeth. He subjected her to horrific abuse. And then stole her bicycle and rode away on it.
People take the rape of a girl for granted. And they are horrified when they hear that an old woman has been abused... But Mefodiivna's case is indicative of the fact that rape is a weapon of war used by the Russian army on a massive scale to destroy our dignity and the Ukrainian nation as a whole. It has nothing to do with sex. It is one of the ways of genocide against Ukrainians.
"IN THE KHERSON REGION, THERE ARE FEWER WOMEN WHO TALK ABOUT SEXUAL VIOLENCE THAN MEN"
- How did you find the first woman who agreed to talk?
- It happened in Berestianka, a small village near Borodianka consisting of just two streets. On March 8, Russian soldiers stationed in the nearby forest went house to house along the streets. "Where are your women?" they asked. "We’ve come to congratulate them on International Women’s Day." They looked around, took note of who lived where and chose their victims. That night, they came back and took two women to their headquarters, where they raped them. One of those women had a husband and an elderly mother. When the soldiers came, the husband opened the door and asked, "Why do you need her?" — "For questioning," they replied. "I’ll go," he insisted. "I saw what she saw." — "No. Call your wife. We need her." Another woman, who had been taken first, heard everything. She heard this man, Sasha, say, "No, no, goodbye. What will you do to me? I’m Russian myself." He reached out to close the door and at that moment, they shot him in the back of the head. He fell. They entered the house, took his wife, Natasha, and led both women to their headquarters. They had wanted to take a third woman as well. But earlier that day, when they came, her husband sensed something was wrong and sent her to stay with relatives for the night. For that, the man was nearly killed. They shot at him, but the bullet ricocheted and struck the Russian commander in the leg. Chaos broke out, and the man survived, because the soldiers rushed to treat their Russian occupier.
The elderly mother of Natasha, the woman who had been taken, later recounted what happened in the house: "They left. And Sasha was lying there. It was dark, you couldn’t see anything. I lit a candle. His head was resting awkwardly. I tried to straighten it… but the back of his head was all soft. His brain fell right into my hands. In the morning, Natasha came back. She cried and cried." That woman now lives near Vienna, in Austria, with her child. Our organization helped her receive reparations.
Perhaps those two were the first. Or maybe it was Lesia from Makariv...I can’t even remember anymore. They locked her husband inside the house and took her away… He jumped out of the window, and they riddled him with bullets from a rifle burst. The neighbors across the street pulled him into their home. When Lesia was released, her husband spent two more days dying in her arms, in unbearable agony… Lesia herself might not have survived either. Because the two men who raped her had already killed her neighbour three houses down. She was a lonely woman. No one knows exactly what happened to her. She was raped, stabbed and buried in an empty house. Only the woman's dog remained. He was sitting on the doorstep all the time...
It was to that woman’s house that they brought Lesia. The rapists themselves pointed to a few stones and said, "Your neighbor is buried here." Lesia was saved by the fact that when she was being raped, a flashlight was on, and another unit happened to be patrolling nearby. Other occupiers entered the house. Lesia wasn’t killed — they let her go home…
We’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg. In every place where the Russians stayed for even a month, there were certainly such cases.
Why did we find so many women in the Kherson region? Because the occupation lasted for eleven months! Interestingly, there are now fewer women than men in Kherson who speak openly about sexual violence. There’s even an organization similar to ours that focuses specifically on helping men who have suffered sexual violence.
In our organization, we don’t collect testimonies ourselves; we bring women together and provide them with support. Those who are ready to speak come forward voluntarily and give their testimony to the Prosecutor General’s Office, which now even has a dedicated department handling these cases.
In the Kherson region, there’s a volunteer named Oksana Pohomii. She knows of many cases of violence committed by the Russians. Through her, we were able to reach and help many of the affected women.
When the Kherson region was occupied, neighbors would denounce women whose relatives were serving in the Ukrainian army. Those women were arrested. If they weren’t raped, electric clamps (known as "crocodiles" - ed. note) were attached to their chests, and current was applied. They were forced to bathe naked, running between lines of soldiers who mocked and laughed at them. "Want to wash? Run there and back naked. Or stay dirty." What could they do? It was summer, scorching heat. So they ran naked. Some of the imprisoned women also witnessed men being raped. The door to their cell was left slightly open, so they could hear everything. There was a book in the cell, they tore it into pieces and read the pages aloud, as loudly as they could, to drown out his screams and the sounds coming from the hallway…
I remember something similar myself. After they took me away from that post in Donetsk, I spent another five hours in the duty office. They dragged a man in there. Later, I realized that a woman had called the hotline and said: "My live-in partner is putting his hand inside my five-year-old daughter's underwear." The officer on duty ordered: "Whoever is free, get ready to go and take the f#cker away. He's putting his hand inside the girl's underwear! Unbelievable."I wasn’t in any state for that situation...That Ossetian kicked me hard in the chest. I was sitting in that narrow cell, pressed against the wall, gasping for air. But I saw how they dragged a man in. I could see his back. His pants had already been pulled down. He was screaming, repeating over and over: "I just didn’t want to live with her anymore. I had a good relationship with the girl. Ask the little one. I loved that child. I just didn’t want to live with her mother."I didn't see if he was raped with an object or not, but he was wheezing and moaning. I had never curled up like that before. I covered my ears and eyes, trying not to hear those sounds. Because when it’s happening to someone else, it’s even more terrifying than when they’re beating you or doing something to you. Suddenly, someone shouted, "Enough. Not here, not here." They dragged him away again. I didn’t see what state he was in afterward. I didn’t want to see or hear anything…
Forced nudity, threats of violence, and touching of intimate areas, all of these, in one way or another, constitute sexual violence.
"FOR ME, INACTION IS LIKE A CONSTANT PROLONGED RAPE, LIKE A CONTINUATION OF WHAT I HAVE EXPERIENCED"
- Why are not all those who went through this willing to talk about it or testify?
- The stigma surrounding this issue in our society is enormous. What guarantee is there that the investigator who took the testimony won’t have a drink that evening and share the intimate details he heard? In villages, people still tell women who were raped by Russian soldiers: "You shouldn’t have been walking in the streets. You went to visit your neighbor, that’s why they saw you. You should’ve stayed in the basement, then they wouldn’t have raped you." Why should these women expose themselves to more pain, judgment, and gossip? Why should they testify? Recall it all? Answer questions, in detail, over and over again? Most of them don’t want to. Most say: "For me, it’s something I’ve locked away deep inside, behind a door I never want to open again." But from my experience, it doesn’t work that way. That door never truly locks. It stands wide open, the woman just doesn’t know when the wind will rise and swing it open again, or tear it off its hinges completely.
There’s a girl named Daryna in our organization who stayed silent for a year and a half. She moved to Uzhhorod, completely changed her surroundings, and worked with a psychologist. And then it hit her. She started having panic attacks, something she’d never experienced before. She thought she had shut it all away, forgotten it… But it’s like a cancer eating you from the inside. At night, you’re still alone with your memories. And then there are the tactile sensations, the sounds, the smells. I, too, had a panic attack once and hid it from everyone. It happened in the third year after we had already settled near Kyiv. One day, my husband came home from work, he worked in construction, opened the trunk, and I saw a worker’s black hat. I immediately recognized the smell. It was just like the one I had on my head in captivity, they had pulled a filthy hat over my eyes. And there I was, standing still, smelling that same stench coming from the car. I knew it wasn’t the same hat and yet, I knew it was. It took everything I had not to react, not to flinch, just to step away from the car and get a grip on myself. My heart was pounding, my ears were ringing, my vision dimmed. I kept repeating to myself: "It’s not the same hat. It can’t be the same hat." But the smell was identical. I’m like a tin soldier, rigid, disciplined. But someone else… in that kind of moment, they might jump off a bridge. In just a few seconds, your body relives everything that was done to you, every detail and it all feels as raw and real as that terrible smell.
Captivity is a terrible thing. For almost everyone, it follows the same pattern. During the first month or two after arrest, there are constant beatings and torture. Then the person signs every paper they’re told to. They might even be forced to give an interview on a Russian camera, "confessing" to whatever they’re told to say. And that’s it, they become a used-up piece of material. After that, survival becomes the only goal. You just pray your chronic illnesses don’t flare up, that your body can hold out long enough to make it to a prisoner exchange. Almost everyone goes through this same horrific path.
- Some women die in captivity… But such cases rarely become known. Do you know how many women are currently held by the Russians?
- No one knows the exact number of civilians still in captivity, not just women, but men as well. When Putin declared that the Donetsk and Luhansk regions were now "Russia," all laws there automatically became Russian, and the judicial system was replaced too. When Russian investigators arrived, they were stunned by the number of people imprisoned in jails and penal colonies without any charges against them. So many were released but forbidden to leave the Donetsk or Luhansk regions. They can’t even go to Russia. These people are essentially hostages there.
And how many went missing in those regions back in 2014! No one ever investigated or collected data on them. My torturers told me: "Once our guys come back from Ilovaisk, we’ll throw you down to them and then bury you in the tree line." That’s exactly what would have happened, if not for that photo by the pole. If those idiots hadn’t gotten bored and decided to put on a show, everything would’ve gone as planned. My husband would never have known where I was, or what happened to me…
- Why is it important to talk about your experiences?
- Everyone has their own reasons. For some, it’s an opportunity for revenge. For others, it’s about being the voice of that 17-year-old girl who refuses to testify. For some, it’s the realization that we may never live to see a fair trial. I no longer believe in criminals being punished. Five years ago I dreamed of standing in The Hague as a witness while Khodakovskyi, a traitor and a bastard, sat behind bars and answered for those he gathered into the "Vostok" battalion. Now I understand that won’t happen…But inaction, for me, feels like an ongoing, prolonged rape, a continuation of what I survived. I tell myself my work in many noble words. I say I’m taking part in the information war, that I am a weapon of that information war. And even if no one is ever jailed, my testimonies in Europe, when I look politicians and human-rights advocates in the eye at conferences — will be remembered for a long time. Maybe, I hope, they will pass this on to their children: that Russians are a kind of filth you’re ashamed to stand near, let alone shake hands with. That the stench of the Russians will be passed down for generations — the stench of the mass rapes they committed in Ukraine. That stink will cling to the whole nation.
Violetta Kirtoka, Censor. NET
