Dmytro Yagunov, Maryna Demura: Domestic Violence in Ukraine. Policing and the Impact of the War

Recently, domestic violence has become an object of special attention by the Parliament, the Government, and the society in general. Therefore, domestic violence could be an attractive object for criminological research in the context of the impact of the War on the society.

In 2017, the Criminal Code was supplemented by Article 126-1 according to the Law № 2227-VIII of 06.12.2017 and amended by the Law № 3342-IX of 23.08.2023, where the domestic violence was defined as a crime.

In June 2022, the Law of Ukraine “On Ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence” No. 2319-IX was adopted. It entered into force on July 2, 2022, and the Istanbul Convention entered into force for Ukraine on November 1, 2022^[1].

However, not all the provisions of the Istanbul Convention have been implemented so far. Article 55 ‘Ex parte and ex officio proceedings’ obliges the parties to the Convention to ensure that the investigation or prosecution of offences such as physical violence (Article 35), sexual violence, including rape (Article 36) forced marriage (Article 37), female genital mutilation (Article 38), forced abortion and forced sterilisation (Article 39), are not wholly dependent on a report or complaint made by the victim and that proceedings may continue even if the victim withdraws their report or complaint.

The first part of the quoted provision of the Istanbul Convention – “that the investigation or prosecution… should not depend entirely on a report or complaint made by the victim’ – is not currently reflected in national legislation and needs to be implemented. This indicates the need to change the approach to such categories of criminal offences as physical violence, sexual violence and others, in particular, to conduct proceedings against them even in the absence of complaints or statements from victims, i.e. in the form of public prosecution. In other words, they should be excluded from the list of offences specified in Paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Article 477 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine (the concept of criminal proceedings in the form of private prosecution), which has not yet been implemented in Ukraine[2].

At the end of 2024, a draft Law of Ukraine ‘On Amendments to the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine to Ensure Full Implementation of the Provisions of International Law on Combating Domestic and Other Forms of Violence, including Against Children’ was submitted to the VRU (Reg. No. 12297 of December 9, 2024)^[3]. It contains provisions on the exclusion of several criminal offences from those that can be initiated only based on a victim’s application (i.e. from the list set out in Paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Article 477 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine). Specifically, domestic violence, rape, sexual violence, and coercion into sexual intercourse are planned to be removed from the list of private prosecution cases^[4].

The Parliamentary Committee on European Integration supported Draft Law No. 12297 on ensuring the full implementation of the provisions of international law on combating domestic and other forms of violence, in particular against children. This document was reviewed at a meeting of the Committee in early February 2025^[5]. We look forward to the further approval of this draft law and its acquisition of the status of the law. After all, the proposed provisions are an implementation of the obligations arising from Article 55 of the Istanbul Convention and will ensure the protection of victims of domestic and other types of violence.

The second part of the quoted provision of the Istanbul Convention – ‘that the proceedings may continue even if the victim withdraws their statement or complaint’ – has now been implemented by Ukraine in its national legislation, in particular, the victim’s withdrawal of the prosecution is not a ground for closing the proceedings (Paragraph 7 of Part 1 of Article 284 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine). Thus, this regulation stipulates that criminal proceedings are closed if the victim, or in cases provided for by the CPC of Ukraine, their representative, has waived the prosecution in criminal proceedings in the form of private prosecution, except for criminal proceedings concerning a criminal offence related to domestic violence. Thus, the Ukrainian criminal procedure legislation currently provides for a kind of ‘safeguard’ against the closure of proceedings in cases of domestic violence.

According to the Article 126-1 of the Criminal Code, domestic violence is defined as intentional systematic commission of physical, psychological or economic violence against a spouse or former spouse or another person with whom the perpetrator is (was) in a family or close relationship, which results in physical or psychological suffering, health disorders, disability, emotional dependence or deterioration of the quality of life of the victim.

As the police statistics show, 4800 crimes resulted from domestic violence were registered in Ukraine in 2021. The next year, after the War started, 3360 crimes resulted from domestic violence were registered. Such a reduction could be explained by different factors like the mass migration of potential victims to other European countries and the participation of many potential perpetrators in military actions. In any case, the traditional social basis for domestic violence was minimised largely with the War.

However, in 2023, 6805 crimes resulted from domestic violence were registered in Ukraine. Moreover, in 2024, 8900 crimes resulted from domestic violence were registered in Ukraine.

Two interesting facts are drawn from the analysis of official police statistics: 1) an average number of crimes resulted from domestic violence in 2022 decreased 1,42 times as compared with 2021; 2) an average number of crimes resulted from domestic violence in 2022-2024 is 2,9 times higher as compared with an average number of the same crimes in the period of 2012-2021 (2189 and 6355 correspondingly).

It should be noted that police statistics distinguishes two indicators: 1) crimes resulted from domestic violence; 2) domestic violence as a separate crime.

Here, we can see the statistical data for both indicators:

– 2019: 2554 crimes resulted from domestic violence (total), 1068 crimes of domestic violence (Article 126-1 of the Criminal Code);

– 2020: 3972 crimes resulted from domestic violence (total), 2213 crimes of domestic violence (Article 126-1 of the Criminal Code);

– 2021: 4800 crimes resulted from domestic violence (total), 2432 crimes of domestic violence (Article 126-1 of the Criminal Code);

– 2022: 3360 crimes resulted from domestic violence (total), 1498 crimes of domestic violence (Article 126-1 of the Criminal Code);

– 2023: 6805 crimes resulted from domestic violence (total), 1824 crimes of domestic violence (Article 126-1 of the Criminal Code);

– 2024: 8900 crimes resulted from domestic violence (total), 2810 crimes of domestic violence (Article 126-1 of the Criminal Code);

– six months of 2025: 4671 crimes resulted from domestic violence (total), 1254 crimes of domestic violence (Article 126-1 of the Criminal Code);

– seven months of 2025: 5406 crimes resulted from domestic violence (total), 1459 crimes of domestic violence (Article 126-1 of the Criminal Code);

Several conclusions could be drawn from police statistics.

Before the War started, there was a permanent trend that crimes of domestic violence constituted a half of all crimes resulted from domestic violence (42% in 2019, 55% in 2020, 51% in 2021).

However, after the War started, the percentage of crime of domestic violence (Article 126-1 of the Criminal Code) reduced to the level of 35% (45% in 2022, 27% in 2023, 32% in 2024) in favour of other crimes resulted from domestic violence.

We can presume that other crimes resulted from domestic violence could hide different forms of ill-treatment by private individuals, which is hidden from real statistical representation.

At the same time, it is obviously problematic to separate domestic violence from other crimes resulted from domestic violence.

^[1] The Law of Ukraine “On Ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence” of 20.06.2022 No. 2319-IX. Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.  Source: https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/2319-20#Text

[2] Zmina (2025). Alternative report to the UN Committee against Torture on the fulfilment by Ukraine of its international obligations under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Kyiv, 2025. P. 80.

^[3] Draft law on amendments to the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine to ensure full implementation of the provisions of international law on combating domestic and other forms of violence, including against children No. 12297 of 09.12.2024. Source:  https://itd.rada.gov.ua/BILLINFO/Bills/Card/45377

^[4] At the same time, this draft law contains certain inaccuracies that may negatively affect the rights of victims of domestic violence. For more details, see: Demura, M. (2025). Improving the legislation on investigating domestic violence: arguments for and against. Just Talk. February 18, 2025. Source: https://justtalk.com.ua/post/udoskonalennya-zakonodavstva-schodo-rozsliduvannya-faktiv-domashnogo-nasilstva-argumenti-za-ta-proti

^[5] Zmina (2025). The Parliamentary Committee on European Integration supported draft law No. 12297 on ensuring the full implementation of international law on combating domestic and other forms of violence, including against children. Zmina. February 4, 2025. Source: https://zmina.info/news/komitet-vr-z-yevrointegracziyi-pidtrymav-zakonoproyekt-pro-vnesennya-zmin-do-kryminalnogo-kodeksu-shhodo-pokarannya-za-nasylstvo/