WOMEN IN UKRAINE who have taken up arms to oppose Vladimir Putin told the tyrant yesterday, “You’ve killed our children — now you’ll pay.”

Female soldiers are fighting alongside frontline troops in the east of the war-torn country against Russian forces.

Thousands more on the street are receiving weapons training to learn how to use AK-47 assault rifles.

Others have put their lives on hold to help make camouflage nets and care for the 2.3 million refugees who have been forced to flee their homes.

It’s an incredible effort by everyone, and the women are confident it will help them defeat the invading Russian troops.

To commemorate International Women’s Day, officials released photos of some of the female soldiers serving in frontline units this week.

“Of course, women are absolutely on the front line all over the east of Ukraine,” one service member who has served in the battle-torn east told The Sun.

“They are fighting alongside men and are constantly exposed to combat.”

In the far west of Lviv, women like 33-year-old Kate ­Matchyshyn had never imagined joining the Army, but are now learning basic weapons training, such as how to fire, reload, and clean an AK-47.

Her main daily concern a few weeks ago was growing her massage therapy business, but she has now been put through her paces at Warriors House, a female-run centre for veterans.

“Of course, I’m scared to have to train so that I’m capable of killing someone,” she explained.

“Killing is a very difficult thing for a woman to do, and I never thought I’d have to do it.” But Russia has forced us to train for such a heinous act.

“We are the same as any other woman anywhere in the world.” Every woman has a protective instinct toward children, which we will demonstrate every day.

“Ukrainian women are strong — my main hobby is boxing, for example — and Putin will find out just how strong they are.” He murdered our children, and we will make him pay.”

Every day, around 40 locals receive weapons training at the centre, where businesswoman Bohdana Ostapyk, 23, helps coordinate the sessions.

Prior to the war, she ran her own successful public relations firm in Kyiv, with 14 clients in the agricultural machinery industry.

However, the company has failed, with all but one of her clients cancelling their contracts, and she has returned to Lviv to assist the war effort.

“The war could end in a few weeks or it could last for years,” she said, adding that “every single person — including women — needs to know how to use a weapon.”

Although Lviv is a long way from the front lines, residents are concerned that the war is heading their way.

Yesterday, air raid sirens were heard repeatedly after Russian troops bombed two airports about three hours away.

Despite their fears, the women of Lviv refuse to be intimidated.

Bohdana Symiakevych, a 25-year-old university ­lecturer, is co-ordinating an industrial-scale camouflage net production operation in a 16th-century former ­gunpowder store known locally as the Powder Tower.

She is in charge of 500 volunteers who sort through tonnes of factory-donated material, tear it into 2in-wide strips, and tie it to plastic garden netting to create 40ft by 6ft nets that the Army uses to hide machinery.

“We make about 30 nets a day,” Bohdana explained. This is a difficult time for the country, but Ukrainians will persevere. We can be strong because the rest of the world is behind us.

“And I’d like to thank the United Kingdom for leading the way in this regard.”

Despite the daily trauma that Ukrainians are now subjected to, they manage to maintain a sense of humour.

Despite the daily trauma Ukrainians now have to deal with, they still manage to maintain a sense of humour. Bohdana added: “We have a joke that when the war is over and we have won we are going to go on holiday — to Crimea.”

In 2014, Putin’s Russia annexed the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula.

Classical music events and business conferences have been cancelled at Lviv’s concert hall for the foreseeable future.

Instead, it has become a regional aid hub, with 100 tonnes of donated food, clothing, and medicines arriving on a daily basis.

Security is strictly enforced. Locals are paranoid about Russian saboteurs, and The Sun team had to wait 20 minutes to clear security.

Once inside, we discovered that every room was piled high with items donated for the benefit of the two million or so refugees who had been driven from their homes by the invasion.

Natalia Dovhaliuk, a married mother of two, is one of 600 volunteers who work around the clock sorting aid into boxes to be shipped to the thousands of refugee camps that have sprung up across Ukraine and neighbouring countries.

“We are at war, so how could I sit at home and watch television?” she said as she sorted gloves, hats, and scarves into boxes in the main auditorium.

“I needed to do something, so I’m here every day.”

“I believe wholeheartedly that Ukraine will win the war.”

“And when we do, it will be thanks to the soldiers’ bravery, but also to the women of Ukraine who have done so much to help in so many ways.”