On 16 February, the Berlinale international film festival hosted the world premiere of the documentary film Traces, which tells the stories of women who survived sexual violence during Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. The screening marked the launch of an international advocacy campaign initiated by the filmmakers in collaboration with SEMA Ukraine, in partnership with Mariya Yefrosynina and the NGO Masha Foundation.
The aim of the campaign is to secure Russia’s inclusion on the UN’s so-called “shame list” for conflict-related sexual violence. Mariya Yefrosynina appeared on the red carpet in a dress bearing the words Russian genocide through the body in order to draw the international community’s attention to the systematic nature of these crimes.
“What is happening in Ukraine is genocide by Russia through the body. The Russian army is maiming Ukrainians not through random cruelty, but as part of a systematic strategy to destroy our identity. The voice of every Ukrainian woman who dares to speak out must break down the wall of global indifference. We do not need sympathy — we demand justice,” emphasised Mariya Yefrosynina, Honorary UN Ambassador to Ukraine and co-founder of the Masha Foundation.
Oleksiy Makeyev, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Germany, highlighted the danger of “war fatigue” in Europe and society’s reluctance to confront the reality of Russian aggression. Producer Olha Bregman (2Brave Productions) stressed that the film is intended to reach beyond the professional film community and resonate with a broader audience.
According to the UN Monitoring Mission, more than 90% of released Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilian hostages report having been subjected to torture. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, at least 664 cases of conflict-related sexual violence committed by Russian military personnel have been documented. The authors emphasise that this represents only a fraction of the true scale of the crimes, as most victims do not dare to testify.