A senior Ukrainian official said on Thursday that many Ukrainians handed over by Moscow to Kyiv in a major prisoner-of-war exchange were “severely tortured” in captivity, AFP reported.

“Many of them were brutally tortured,” Kyrylo Budanov, head of the intelligence department of the Ministry of Defense, said at a press conference, without specifying the nature of the alleged torture.

According to him, there are also “people whose physical condition is more or less normal, except for chronic malnutrition due to poor housing conditions.”

These prisoners were held in several areas of Ukrainian territories occupied by Russian troops, as well as in Russia, added Budanov, who helped organize the exchange.

Minister of Internal Affairs Denys Monastyrskyi said that “absolutely all” Ukrainians who have changed “need psychological rehabilitation.”

Ukraine and Russia on Wednesday carried out the largest exchange of prisoners of war since the beginning of the Russian invasion in late February.

Kyiv took back 10 foreigners and 205 Ukrainians, including the defense chiefs of the Azovstal metallurgical plant in the city of Mariupol, a symbol of resistance to the Russian invasion.

Instead, Moscow received 55 Russians and former Ukrainian deputy Viktor Medvedchuk, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“We bring our people home”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday night that Ukraine will do everything possible to bring home every soldier captured by the Russians, and that the exchange is a “big victory” for Ukraine.

“We are bringing our people home. This is, of course, a victory for our state and our entire society. And the most important thing is for 215 families who will be able to see their loved ones safely,” Zelenskyy wrote in a message published on Facebook.