.Ukrainian Head of state Volodymyr Zelensky declared Friday that 49 Ukrainian POWs had actually been actually returned coming from Russia, along with AFP witnessing the team being welcomed at the boundary along with Belarus.Zelensky performed certainly not make clear whether it belonged to an exchange with Russia, as is typically the case, but AFP reporters had actually earlier found Russian prisoners of war being filled onto a bus near the borderline.It would certainly be actually the 2nd substitution in between the warring nations since Kyiv's shock incursion into Russia's Kursk location.Zelensky pointed out private citizens were actually also one of the returnees, consisting of a "woman who was hijacked when she involved handle her ill dad.".He pointed out the swap additionally featured competitors from Mariupol's 2022 Azovstal war, along with soldiers, boundary shields and law enforcement officers.AFP spoke with 2 ladies in their 20s covered in Ukrainian flags as well as acquiring flowers, who said they went to the Azovstal vegetation that was up to Russia after a siege in 2022." I'm eventually home, I can't feel it," mentioned 28-year-old Tamara Miroshnikova, leader of an equipped vehicle of Ukraine's National Guard, pointed out.Another girl, 29-year-old Tetiana Bugay, stated she was actually a medic at the Azov unit that defended Azovstal.Earlier, AFP found the Ukrainian army driving Russian POWs in a bus, some were actually using bonnets hiding their faces, which were taken out as they were loaded right into a minivan.AFP spoke with some of all of them for a while, and all those that talked claimed they were actually taken captive during Ukraine's surprise Kursk aggression final month.