Ukraine

Country Overview & Political Climate

Ukraine is a republic with a semi-presidential system of government, comprising a unicameral legislature (the Verkhovna Rada), a directly elected president who serves as head of state and commander in chief, a prime minister who leads the Cabinet of Ministers, and a judiciary. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has led the country since April 2019.

Since February 24, 2022, Ukraine has been under a state of martial law following Russia’s full-scale invasion — an unlawful and unprovoked act of aggression that has resulted in war crimes, crimes against humanity, and widespread atrocities documented by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the OSCE, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU), and numerous other international bodies. The war has killed thousands of civilians, displaced millions, devastated civilian infrastructure, and fundamentally altered the legal and social landscape of Ukrainian society. As of November 2024, the OHCHR recorded 9,715 civilian deaths in Ukrainian government-controlled areas since the start of the war, with the actual toll estimated to be considerably higher.

Martial law has curtailed democratic freedoms, suspended national elections, restricted press freedom, and significantly limited labor rights, civil liberties, and anti-corruption oversight. The European Union opened accession negotiations with Ukraine in June 2024, with rule of law, fundamental rights, and democratic institutions identified as priority issues. Ukraine also took steps in 2024 toward becoming a full member of the International Criminal Court.

At least 6.7 million Ukrainians have fled abroad and remain displaced, with millions more internally displaced. Throughout 2024, tens of thousands fled frontline cities in Kharkivska and Donetska regions as Russian forces continued their military advance.

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Human Rights Conditions

Russian War Crimes and Civilian Casualties

Russia’s forces carried out systematic attacks on civilian populations and civilian infrastructure throughout 2024, constituting what international bodies have characterized as war crimes and crimes against humanity. Civil society and defense analysts reported Russia launched 13,925 missiles and drones at targets in Ukraine during 2024 alone. The OHCHR recorded that 96 percent of civilian casualties were caused by explosive weapons used in populated areas — including artillery shells, rockets, bombs, missiles, and drone-delivered munitions.

July 2024 was the deadliest month for Ukrainian civilians since October 2022, with at least 219 killed and 1,018 injured. On July 8, coordinated Russian strikes on Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, and Kirovohrad oblasts killed at least 42 people and injured at least 190. One missile struck the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital — Ukraine’s largest pediatric facility — killing two and injuring 16, including seven children. A May 25 attack on a shopping center in Kharkiv killed 19 people and wounded 54. A September 4 attack on a historic residential district in Lviv killed seven residents, including four from the same family, wounded 66, and damaged seven educational facilities.

Between March and August 2024, Russian forces conducted at least 101 attacks on power distribution and transmission facilities across 17 regions, along with 36 strikes on power generation facilities, seven on hydroelectric plants, and two on heating plants. The attacks caused daily blackouts lasting up to 14 hours, putting millions of civilians at risk — particularly people with disabilities, serious health conditions, and older persons who depend on electricity-powered services. Between February 2022 and December 2024, the World Health Organization documented 2,195 attacks on healthcare facilities in Ukraine.

A September 2024 attack on an aid distribution site in Viroliubivka, Donetska region, killed three International Committee of the Red Cross staff members and wounded two others. Between January and October 2024, nine humanitarian workers were killed in Ukraine.

Abuses in Russian-Occupied Territories

Russian occupying authorities in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, and Crimea regions have imposed Russian legislation, administrative structures, and judicial control in violation of international humanitarian law. They have pressured residents to obtain Russian passports through harassment, intimidation, arbitrary detention, and denial of access to social services. Russian authorities suppressed the Ukrainian language, imposed Russian educational curricula, and restricted freedoms of speech, association, assembly, and religion.

In March 2024, de facto authorities in Russian-occupied regions adopted measures enabling seizure of “unused” property — with vague grounds that effectively allow arbitrary confiscation of homes and apartments belonging to displaced residents who fled and cannot maintain properties remotely.

Between December 2023 and September 2024, courts in Crimea convicted 254 people of “discrediting Russian armed forces.” Russian authorities continued to harass and arbitrarily detain Crimean Tatars, journalists, and others critical of the occupation. Defense attorneys representing defendants in politically motivated cases faced professional retaliation; in July 2024, defense attorney Alexey Ladin was stripped of his law license — the fourth such case in Crimea since Russia’s 2014 occupation.

Forced Deportation of Children

Russia’s systematic forcible transfer and deportation of Ukrainian children has been extensively documented by international organizations and Ukrainian government agencies. As of October 2024, local NGO Children of War reported that of the 19,547 children reportedly deported or forcibly displaced, only 388 had been returned. Russia refused to allow sufficient access to international observers to locate or return children; in cases where children were found, relatives faced costly and dangerous trips to Russia and harassment by security forces to retrieve them.

Prisoners of War and Civilian Detainees

More than 6,000 Ukrainian POWs remain in Russian captivity. Russian forces summarily executed at least 15 Ukrainian soldiers — and possibly six more — as they attempted to surrender between December 2023 and February 2024. Ukrainian authorities were conducting 53 criminal investigations into the extrajudicial execution of 177 Ukrainian POWs since 2022. The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry concluded in October 2024 that Russian authorities committed torture against Ukrainian civilians and POWs as a crime against humanity. Approximately 80 percent of former POWs reported experiencing sexual violence while in Russian captivity. At least 169 Ukrainian POWs and 15 civilians have died in Russian custody since February 2022.

Ukraine estimates Russia was unlawfully detaining over 14,000 Ukrainian civilians as of July 2024. An April 2024 OSCE report extensively documented extrajudicial killings, torture, sexual violence, and denial of fair trial guarantees against arbitrarily detained Ukrainians, concluding there was credible evidence these violations could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Close to 55,000 Ukrainians are listed in the national registry as missing; at least 16,000 are civilians.

Conflict-Related Sexual Violence

As of December 2024, Ukrainian prosecutors had opened 335 cases of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) perpetrated by Russian forces in detention facilities and occupied territories since February 2022. Women and girls comprise the majority of reported victims; the true number is believed to be substantially higher due to stigma, fear of reprisals, and limited access to safe reporting mechanisms. In November 2024, Ukraine’s parliament adopted legislation codifying the definition of CRSV in national law and establishing mechanisms for interim reparations. The war has also contributed to a 36 percent increase in domestic violence cases in 2024, with approximately 60 percent of perpetrators being men returning from combat.

Ukrainian Government Human Rights Concerns

Significant human rights issues involving Ukrainian government officials were also documented in 2024, many stemming from martial law conditions.

Torture and Arbitrary Detention: There were credible reports of law enforcement authorities employing torture and cruel treatment. In August 2024, four law enforcement officers from a correctional colony in Poltava Oblast were charged with torture and cruel treatment. The OHCHR received allegations of arbitrary arrest, including five cases in which men who attempted to invoke conscientious objection rights were detained two to four days and subjected to mistreatment including beatings and suffocation. A UN Special Rapporteur’s report documented cases in which SBU officers arrested individuals without warrants, held them incommunicado, beat them, and forced them to sign documents.

Freedom of the Press: Martial law enabled unprecedented wartime government control over television news through a mandatory “telemarathon” broadcast. The government banned, blocked, or sanctioned media outlets and individual journalists deemed threats to national security. Investigative journalists critical of the government faced negative social media campaigns, threats, and surveillance. Some journalists reported being threatened with military conscription in retaliation for their reporting. The European Commission in October 2024 expressed concern about government monopolization of television and called for restoration of a pluralistic media landscape. Freedom House rated Ukraine’s press as “partly free.”

Broad Anti-Collaboration Laws: Ukrainian authorities vigorously applied anti-collaboration laws that HRW and international groups criticized as overly broad and vague. Authorities imposed harsh penalties on volunteers, municipal workers, medical personnel, and teachers for working in Russian-occupied areas, even absent evidence of hostile acts and in contravention of international humanitarian law’s protections for civilians living under occupation. The conviction rate in these cases remained close to 100 percent.

Religious Freedom: In August 2024, parliament passed a law banning the Russian Orthodox Church and any religious organization with ties to it, which could effectively shut down the Ukrainian Orthodox Church — one of Ukraine’s largest religious organizations — with significant consequences for millions of parishioners, including restrictions on property ownership, access to places of worship, and heightened risks of surveillance and prosecution.

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Security & Crime

The U.S. Department of State rates Ukraine at Level 4: Do Not Travel due to Russia’s ongoing war and active armed conflict. Kyiv is assessed as a Critical-threat location for political violence. The security situation throughout Ukraine is unpredictable and continuously evolving due to Russian missile and drone strikes targeting civilian infrastructure, residential areas, and critical systems.

Russia’s forces have continued to escalate attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure throughout the country, with missile and drone strikes reported in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, Odesa, and other major cities. U.S. interests including private businesses have been damaged by aerial attacks. The FAA has issued a Notice to Air Missions prohibiting U.S. aviation operations into, out of, within, or over Ukraine. Ukraine’s border crossings with Russia and Belarus are closed to regular traffic.

Russian intelligence services are considered active throughout Ukraine. U.S. travelers should expect that communications are monitored and that physical surveillance may occur. Russian forces and their proxies have singled out U.S. citizens in Russian-occupied areas for detention, interrogation, or harassment.

Ukraine is believed to have one of the largest arms trafficking markets in Europe, a situation exacerbated by the war. While conventional crime — including burglary, robbery, pickpocketing, and street crime — is reduced in part due to the nationwide curfew and martial law restrictions, arms proliferation presents a growing long-term concern.

Ukraine’s water supply, wastewater treatment, and electricity systems have been repeatedly targeted and damaged by Russian attacks. Tap water is not potable. Medical infrastructure is severely strained. Healthcare does not meet U.S. standards, and ambulance response times are slow.

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Asylum Eligibility Grounds

War-Related Persecution and Conflict-Related Harm — Russian-Occupied Territories: Ukrainians from areas occupied by Russia — including Crimea (occupied since 2014), and parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts — who have been subjected to arbitrary detention, torture, forced conscription into Russian forces, passport coercive pressure, property confiscation, or suppression of Ukrainian identity, language, or religion have well-documented bases for asylum and related protection claims. The OSCE, OHCHR, and UN Commission of Inquiry have all produced extensive documentation supporting these claims.

Crimean Tatars and Ethnic Minorities: Crimean Tatars subject to targeted repression under Russian occupation — including arbitrary detention, harassment, defamation campaigns, and denial of adequate medical care — have strong claims based on race, ethnicity, and political opinion. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in June 2024 that Russia carried out a pattern of “retaliatory prosecution” against those opposed to its occupation of Crimea.

Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Survivors: Ukrainian women and men subjected to sexual violence by Russian forces in detention or in occupied territories may have viable claims based on gender, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. Ukrainian prosecutors’ documentation of 335 CRSV cases — acknowledged as likely an undercount — provides a foundation for corroborating individual claims.

Persons Subjected to Forced Deportation or Family Separation: Parents or family members of children forcibly deported to Russia, or individuals themselves forcibly transferred, may have claims based on the documented pattern of Russia’s deportation program — for which the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against senior Russian officials.

Political Opinion — Anti-Collaboration Prosecutions: Ukrainians prosecuted or persecuted by Ukrainian authorities under overly broad anti-collaboration laws — particularly individuals who provided civilian services (medical, educational, municipal) in occupied territories under compulsion — may have claims if they face persecution by Ukrainian authorities disproportionate to any legitimate security interest, and where that persecution is tied to perceived political opinion or protected status.

LGBTQ+ Individuals: In Russian-occupied territories, LGBTQ+ individuals face severely repressive conditions and documented violence with no prospect of state protection, given Russia’s legal framework. In Ukrainian-controlled territory, 39 instances of homophobic and transphobic violence were documented in the first half of 2024. Legislation recognizing same-sex partnerships and adding LGBTQ+ protections to hate crime law remained pending in parliament. Individuals who face persecution based on sexual orientation or gender identity — particularly from occupied territories or from communities with extreme intolerance — may have viable PSG claims.

Trafficking Victims: Ukraine is a major source country for human trafficking, a problem significantly worsened by the war and mass displacement. Trafficking victims who can demonstrate the government’s failure to protect them may be eligible for asylum or other forms of immigration relief.

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Sources: Human Rights Watch World Report 2025 – Ukraine; OSAC Ukraine Country Security Report (January 2026); U.S. Department of State Ukraine 2024 Human Rights Report.