Content warning: This email discusses violence and harmful practices against women and girls.

When Daria heard military vehicles moving through her village in the Kyiv region of Ukraine, her heart sank. She knew she was no longer safe.

This is the reality for so many women and girls living through conflict. Their homes — which should be a haven for them and their families — are ripped from them suddenly, and prolonged displacement puts them at a high risk of violence.

Between February 2022 and December 2024, the United Nations in Ukraine has documented 433 cases of conflict-related sexual violence, including rape, mutilation or violence to genitals, forced nudity, threats, and attempted rape. The real number is likely to be much higher, as many cases go unreported due to stigma, fear, and ongoing insecurity.

As the number of people in need continues to rise, UNFPA is doing everything we can to reach survivors with lifesaving services and support. Please act now to stand with women and girls living through conflict in Ukraine and around the world.

When military vehicles descended on Daria’s village, every day became a struggle to survive the war. Soldiers with machine guns surrounded them. Shelling continued day after day. Everyone lived in constant and mortal fear.

Daria remembers being in a state of blurred reality — as if she had left her body and couldn’t return. Oleksandra, a Ukrainian photographer and a survivor of violence, captured this emotional and psychological state on camera with striking precision:

“Sexual violence is a weapon of war,” Oleksandra told us. “We can only guess what horrors are happening right now in the occupied territories.”

Women and girls deserve to thrive, not just survive. As the war continues, your support for survivors of conflict-related violence becomes even more urgent. Only when survivors are met with care instead of silence does healing become possible.

Every action we take matters. That’s why we are asking for you to make a gift of any amount to support, heal, and protect survivors today. They need our care — steadily, collectively, and without conditions.

Thank you for being there for survivors of conflict-related violence.

— USA for UNFPA