Since his release from a Russian prison, Dmytro Khyliuk has barely been off the phone.

The Ukrainian journalist was detained by Russian forces in the first days of their full-scale invasion. Three and a half years later he's been released in a prisoner swap, one of eight civilians freed in a surprise move.

While Russia and Ukraine have swapped military prisoners of war before, it is very rare for Russia to release Ukrainian civilians.

Dmytro has been catching up frantically on all he's missed. But he's also phoning the families of every Ukrainian he met in captivity: he memorised all their names and each detail.

He knows that for some, his call may be the first confirmation that their relative is alive.

The welcome home

There were celebrations here last month when Dmytro was returned from Russia in a group of 146 Ukrainians.

A crowd came out waving blue and yellow national flags, cheering as the buses carrying the freed men passed hooting their horns.

Officials won't say exactly how they got the eight Ukrainian civilians back in the same exchange, only that it involved sending back in return people Russia was interested in.

Constant cruelty

We met Dmytro shortly after his release as he recuperated at a Kyiv hospital.

The details he shared of his captivity are chilling.

They grabbed us and literally dragged us to the prison and on the way they beat us with rubber batons shouting things like, 'How many people have you killed?' he said, describing his transfer to Russia.

He was held in multiple facilities and his account chimes with many others we've heard over the years.

He tells me he was bitten and left bleeding. I was so stressed I only felt the pain 20 minutes later.

The journalist was never charged with any crime.

His parents' fear

The journalist's family home is a world away from all that, in the pretty village of Kozarovychi just outside Kyiv.

Dmytro's father, Vasyl, was also briefly taken prisoner by the Russians. He didn't know where he'd been taken and feared for his son.

Ukraine's missing

Other families have had no news at all. Across Ukraine, officials say more than 16,000 civilians are currently missing. So far, they've only located a fraction of them in Russian prisons.

Lasting damage

For Dmytro's family, the long and painful wait is almost over. He'll join them in the village as soon as the hospital declares him fit again.

His mother, Halyna, jokes that she has a long list of jobs for her only son - fixing all the damage done by the Russians.

Dmytro is taking it slowly though, because being back here requires some adjusting.