Russian soldiers are living in fear of being killed if they are sent back home after being captured by Ukrainian soldiers.

At a press conference in Kyiv, one of the soldiers spoke of being killed by firing squads when they are returned to Russia following a prisoner exchange.

A soldier from the 2nd Motor Rifle Division spoke about Ukrainian soldiers allowing him to phone home and his parents told him that his funeral arrangements had already been made, reports The Telegraph.

The soldier said: “’In Russia, we are already considered dead.

“I was given the opportunity to call my parents and they told me that a funeral for me had already been arranged.”

“If we are exchanged, then we will be shot by our own people.”

On Tuesday, another captured Russian soldier spoke of how he was shot at by his fellow troops as some soldiers tried to protect Ukrainian civilians.

He said his lieutenant was killed while trying to save a woman and her mother after Russian soldiers were allegedly given orders to fire on civilians in Kharkiv on February 24.

The Ukrainian government opened a telephone hotline for Russian parents to find out if their sons are among the dead or captured, as well as allowing soldiers to phone home.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade his neighbour Ukraine last month and has continued his assault on various parts of the country.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of carrying out genocide after officials said Russian aircraft bombed a children’s hospital on Wednesday.

The incident reportedly saw patients buried in the rubble despite a ceasefire deal for people to flee the besieged city of Mariupol.

The attack, which authorities said injured women in labour and left children in the wreckage, is the latest incident of the invasion, the biggest assault on a European state since 1945.

Mr Zelenskyy said: “What kind of country is this, the Russian Federation, which is afraid of hospitals, is afraid of maternity hospitals, and destroys them?”

Ukraine’s foreign ministry posted video footage of what it said was the hospital showing holes where windows should have been in a three-storey building.

The UN Human Rights body said it was verifying the number of casualties at Mariupol.

Spokesperson Liz Throssell said: “The incident adds to our deep concerns about indiscriminate use of weapons in populated areas and civilians trapped in active hostilities in numerous areas.”

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