Former Ukraine POWs recall fainting from hunger in Russian captivity

Ukrainian border guards colonel Valeriy Padytel and cynologist Alina Panina, captured during the Azovstal steelworks siege in Mariupol in May and released in the recent POW exchange, speak with their counterpart, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in undisclosed location, Ukraine October 25, 2022. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

KYIV (Reuters) - Alina Panina, a Ukrainian prisoner of war freed last week, recalls women fainting from hunger as they took the 15 minutes of permitted daily exercise during their months-long detention by Russian forces.

Panina, 25, was one of 218 detainees, nearly half of them women, freed on Oct. 17 in one of the biggest prisoner swaps since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.