Russians are believed to have burnt the corpses of many their victims, in turn destroying evidence of rape.

“For Russians, it is a routine tactic,” Ms Pavlichenko said. “We saw them use similar tactics in Chechnya and Syria. Russians rape to destabilise civilians.”

She said that Ukraine had established specialist teams for investigating rape in the wake of the war. The teams, made up of 20 people ranging from psychologists to police officers trained to speak with children, will comb the villages in the Kyiv region that were under Russian occupation to find evidence.

Such is the complexity of the situation that the teams will keep returning to villages to allow victims to come forward when they may not have felt comfortable before. The scheme will be rolled out throughout the country to reflect the prolific nature of the systemic raping of Ukrainian citizens during the invasion.

“It is a problem that people do not want to admit what has happened to them,” she added. “We are trying not to press them so as not to re-traumatise them. But we try to explain that if they share their story, it will help to tell the world the atrocities that the Russians committed in Ukraine.”

Ms Pavlichenko added: “Rape is the hardest crime to talk about. People want to forget it so the scale could be much bigger than we will ever know.”

The rape and murder that Anna was subjected to that night has left her with severe anxiety. If a dog barks, she jumps, and she still worries that the Russians will return and find her.

“Only a few people have told about being sexually assaulted because they are scared,” Anna said. “I am also scared.”

She has since visited a doctor, who has confirmed she is healthy and not pregnant.

When The Telegraph visited Anna, it was the day before her 42nd birthday and she was quietly preparing a meal that she would enjoy with her husband the next day in their now-liberated village.

“Now I feel like a wild animal and I am living in hell,” she said, before bursting into tears. “I am not crying about the rape. We need to win. Help us with more weapons. They are killing our children. They need to help us.”

All victims’ names have been changed