Dozens of women rescued in Ukraine's first female-only prisoner exchange have spoken of horrific torture at the hands of Vladimir Putin's forces.
The women were beaten with hammers, electrocuted, and had boiling water poured over them, they revealed after they were reunited with their families in Zaporizhzhia.
Torturing prisoners of war is considered a war crime under the Geneva Convention.
One woman named only as Hanna, 26, a serviceman of the 36th Marine Brigade, was held in captivity for six months and four days.
A woman released from Russian captivity within the framework of a large-scale exchange of prisoners, is hugged as she arrives to Ukrainian side in Zaporizhzhia. The women spoke of horrific torture at the hands of Vladimir Putin's forces
She was a defender at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol and said the forces there would have died had they not surrendered.
'I can't believe it now... I dreamt so many times about being at home...' Hanna said.
The servicewoman has not heard from any of her relatives for more than half a year. Hanna told Ukrinform about how the women were treated.
'They beat the girls, they tortured the girls with electric current, beat them with hammers, that's the easiest thing,' she said.
Her husband is still being held in captivity, and his location is unknown. She has a child in Ukrainian territory occupied by Russians who she has not yet been able to contact.
'Those who had tattoos... they wanted to cut off our hands, cut off the tattoos, scalded us with boiling water just because you exist, because you are a marine, because you speak Ukrainian,' she said.
Approximately 96 of the swapped prisoners are servicewomen, including 37 evacuees from Azovstal, whereas 12 are civilians.
Some of the women were forced to give interviews to Russian media while in captivity, threatening to beat them if they refused.
The women did not know they were being prepared for exchange.
They were taken to Taganrog, a Russian city close to the Ukrainian border, before crossing over for the prisoner swap.
Ukraine swapped more than 100 prisoners with Russia in what it said was the first all-female exchange since the war began. Pictured: Women walk towards their relatives as part of all-female prisoner swap
The women did not realise they were being rescued until they began hearing Ukrainian after they were loaded on to the bus
The Russians had told them they would not be exchanged, and that instead they would be imprisoned until the end of the 'special operation', the Kremlin's name for the War in Ukraine.
At the end, they would 'shoot us like dogs', Hanna recalled the soldiers telling them.
The women only found out they were being rescued when they began hearing Ukrainian after they were loaded on to the bus.
Among those rescued was a military doctor from Azovstal, separated from her 4-year-old child by the Russians during the evacuation on May 8.
Mariupol, a port city on the Sea of Azov in south-eastern Ukraine, withstood weeks of relentless Russian bombardment, with resistance concentrated in a dense network of underground tunnels at its Azovstal steel plant.
Alisa, her four-year-old, had been living in Poland with her grandparents before being reunited with her mother.
None of their possessions were returned, and many of the women will have to start from scratch, but they wept tears of joy after being reunited with their loved ones.
The women will undergo medical examination and rehabilitation.
Women released from Russian captivity within the framework of a large-scale exchange of prisoners pose for a group photo as they arrive to Ukrainian side in Zaporizhzhia
