.Ukrainian Head of state Volodymyr Zelensky introduced Friday that 49 Ukrainian POWs had actually been actually returned from Russia, with AFP observing the group being welcomed at the boundary along with Belarus.Zelensky performed not clear up whether it was part of an exchange with Russia, as is actually generally the instance, but AFP reporters had previously observed Russian prisoners of war being packed onto a bus near the border.It would certainly be actually the 2nd swap between the warring countries considering that Kyiv's shock incursion right into Russia's Kursk location.Zelensky pointed out private citizens were actually also amongst the returnees, featuring a "gal that was taken hostage when she pertained to handle her ill father.".He pointed out the exchange also included competitors from Mariupol's 2022 Azovstal struggle, and also soldiers, perimeter protectors and also law enforcement officers.AFP talked with pair of girls in their 20s wrapped in Ukrainian flags and acquiring florals, that claimed they were at the Azovstal plant 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 lorry of Ukraine's National Protection, pointed out.One more woman, 29-year-old Tetiana Bugay, mentioned she was a paramedic at the Azov unit that defended Azovstal.Earlier, AFP found the Ukrainian army steering Russian POWs in a bus, some were actually putting on hoods hiding their skins, which were actually taken out as they were actually filled into a minivan.AFP contacted a few of them briefly, and all those who spoke mentioned they were taken captive in the course of Ukraine's shock Kursk aggression last month.