A Ukrainian woman thought 'that was it for me' after a Russian solider burst through the front door and brutally raped her in front of her husband, who was then fatally shot.
Another was kidnapped by soldiers and violated twice, shockingly with the consent of her pro-Russian boyfriend, before falling pregnant with her rapist's baby.
A third was tortured and sexually assaulted while being detained in a Russian prison colony.
Their stories are just a few of the hundreds that have emerged over the last four years from Ukrainian women reporting sexual violence at the hands of Russian troops, though advocates believe the real number of victims could be far higher.
Ukrainian human rights lawyer Oleksandra Matviichuk has previously told Daily Mail how rape has been weaponised by Russian forces to break the spirit of the nation.
Her Nobel Prize-winning organisation, the Centre for Civil Liberties, has uncovered at least 84,000 instances of war crimes perpetrated by Putin's war machine since the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Speaking last year on the Mail's Apocalypse Now podcast, Matviichuk described the Russian army's use of sexual violence as a 'weapon of war'.
She said: 'This crime has a very sensitive nature. Through the targeting of individuals, Russia can target entire communities. The survivors feel shame – so do their neighbours, their relatives, and their families.
Hundreds of Ukrainian women have reported sexual violence at the hands of Russian troops, though advocates believe the real number of victims could be far higher. Pictured: Drone strikes in Kramatorsk, Ukraine earlier this month
Lawyers and human rights advocates have explained how rape has been weaponised by Russian forces to break the spirit of the nation. Pictured: An aerial view of destroyed buildings in the frontline town of Kostyantynivka, Donetsk
'They feel guilty because they couldn't stop it. They feel fear that they could be subjected to the same treatment.
'This complex mix of different feelings decreases social connections between members of different communities and helps Russia control the occupied regions.'
But victims are now beginning to speak out.
Lesya, a 53-year-old economist, told the New York Times how her life was upended forever in March 2022 when she heard a knock on the door at her home near Kyiv - and two Russian soldiers suddenly burst in.
She attempted to flee, but was dragged by one into a neighbour's house. There she was subjected to a brutal rape within moments of being captured.
'The second one shot my husband in the stomach and leg while I was being raped,' she recalled.
More soldiers, armed with knives, rifles and grenades, arrived at the house and she feared being further attacked. But instead they stopped the rape and let her go.
She later found her husband, Sasha, bleeding to death on the floor of another house, adding that watching him die was worse than having been subjected to rape.
Over in southern Ukraine, mother-of-five Svitlana, 31, recalled how she begged Russian soldiers in March 2022 not to kidnap her four-week-old son and take him across the border.
They relented, but even after the distressing incident, the baby's father - who was pro-Russian - began befriending the troops.
Not long afterwards, he forced her into a white van with two soldiers, who placed a mask over her face and drove her to another village.
Her partner stayed in the van while the armed soldiers pushed her into a shop and raped her there twice.
She subsequently split from her partner and fled with her children. Six months later Svitlana realised she had fallen pregnant by her rapist.
Svitlana considered an abortion but she was too late into her pregnancy. She says that has come to love her son 'almost like the others'.
For Tetiana Tipakova, 53, sexual violence was used against her because she had organised anti-Russian protests and spoken out against Putin's regime.
In February 2022, armed soldiers wearing balaclavas stormed into her home, handcuffed her, put a bag over her head and drove her to a prison in Berdyansk.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found Russia guilty of breaching international humanitarian law in Ukraine by using rape to terrorise the population. Pictured: Mariana reacts during the funeral of Nazary Gryntsevych, a Ukrainian soldier killed on the battlefield, at a cemetery in Vinnytsia, in May 2024
'I knew that place — it was the worst of all the prisons', she said.
Tetiana recalled being subjected to torture for a week. In one instance, prison guards had even taunted her by setting up a mock execution.
She was beaten, interrogated and physically abused with electric shocks. The guards sexually violated her with objects, including their weapons.
Her ill treatment continued until she submitted to making a video declaring she had been wrong to organise anti-Russian protests.
Lawyer Maria, 50, had in the years preceding the war provided legal aid for Ukrainians living in Russian-occupied territories.
After Putin's forces invaded in 2022, she was accused of being a 'threat' to the Russian Federation.
By January 2023, she had been brutally arrested and driven to the front line in the Zaporizhzhia region, where she was treated 'as a slave'.
She was then beaten and raped by two Russian soldiers, leaving her physically and emotionally harmed.
Judges found the human rights abuses went beyond any military objective and that Russia used sexual violence as part of a strategy to break Ukrainian morale
The next morning, a Russian major found her lying injured on the ground. He encouraged her to escape by walking back towards Ukraine.
Her journey was perilous, taking in minefields, bombed ruins and destroyed bridges. But finally she reached the Ukrainian checkpoint.
All of the women have made formal complaints to authorities about their treatment by Russian soldiers.
Last July, Europe's top rights court ruled that Russia had committed heinous human rights abuses in Ukraine, using rape and torture to terrorise the population before and after Vladimir Putin's troops launched their full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found Russia guilty of breaching international humanitarian law in Ukraine by carrying out attacks that 'killed and wounded thousands of civilians and created fear and terror'.
'The prevalence of sexual violence and rape by Russian soldiers in occupied territory is especially abhorrent,' the ruling said.
'The evidence shows the extreme violence of the circumstances in which women were raped or sexually assaulted and the intent to terrorise, humiliate and debase them... the raping of women and girls has also been described as a means for the aggressor to symbolically and physically humiliate the defeated men.'
Male victims were also found to have featured in the Russian campaign of sexual violence.
'The evidence also attests to the horrific sexual violence frequently perpetrated upon male detainees.
'The sexual abuse, torture and mutilation of male detainees is often carried out to attack and destroy their sense of masculinity or manhood.'
Judges found the human rights abuses went beyond any military objective and that Russia used sexual violence as part of a strategy to break Ukrainian morale.
The Kremlin dismissed the judgment, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov declaring the ruling: 'We consider [it] null and void.'
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of rape or sexual assault, you can get help at Rape Crisis England & Wales.
