TV star suffers brutal face injuries as she escapes being raped in front of son

A TV presenter was bludgeoned and narrowly escaped being raped in front of her six-year-old son on a train.

Anastasia Lugova, 28, shared harrowing photographs capturing her gruesome injuries on social media to warn others about the vicious assault.

She was hospitalised for her catalogue of nasty injuries to her face which were seen in a number of graphic photographs she shared online.

The attack unfolded when a stranger wearing only his pants broke into a compartment where she was sleeping with her son Zakhar in Ukraine.

Anastasia gave terrifying details as she recalled her attacker grabbing her by the neck and undressing her after the break in at around 3am.

She said: "I started screaming and calling for help but no one came.

"He then said: 'Be a good girl or it will be worse', and started undressing me."

The mother and son had been making the journey from Mariupol to the capital city of Kyiv, on Friday.

Anastasia begged her attacker to leave her son alone and she pleaded with him to go somewhere else.

She was ordered to the attacker's compartment where later she was able to push past him and flee back to her son.

A conductor was able to hide the mother and son in her own compartment on the train.

She said: "I started begging the thug not to hurt my son and promised to do everything he wanted. I asked him to go somewhere else to get him away from my son.

"He agreed and ordered me to go to his compartment."

Anastasia shared the devastating impact the attack has had on her son as she said he cannot stop crying.

She said: "My son cannot stop crying and constantly repeats: 'Mom, forgive me for not protecting you'."

Vitaliy Rudzko, 45, has been arrested on charges for battery and attempted rape.

He was handed to the police on the train's arrival in Kyiv.