.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Friday that 49 Ukrainian POWs had been actually come back coming from Russia, with AFP observing the group being welcomed at the border with Belarus.Zelensky did certainly not clarify whether it was part of an exchange with Russia, as is commonly the instance, but AFP journalists had actually previously viewed Russian hostages being actually loaded onto a bus near the border.It would be actually the 2nd exchange between the warring nations considering that Kyiv's unpleasant surprise attack in to Russia's Kursk area.Zelensky pointed out civilians were actually likewise amongst the returnees, including a "woman who was actually taken hostage when she pertained to care for her ill papa.".He said the substitution additionally included fighters from Mariupol's 2022 Azovstal war, as well as soldiers, boundary guards and law enforcement agents.AFP spoke to pair of ladies in their 20s covered in Ukrainian flags and acquiring flowers, that claimed they went to the Azovstal plant that was up to Russia after a siege in 2022." I'm lastly home, I can not believe it," mentioned 28-year-old Tamara Miroshnikova, commander of an armed automobile of Ukraine's National Protection, mentioned.One more lady, 29-year-old Tetiana Bugay, stated she was a medic at the Azov unit that defended Azovstal.Earlier, AFP viewed the Ukrainian army driving Russian POWs in a bus, some were actually wearing hoods concealing their skins, which were taken out as they were filled into a minivan.AFP spoke to some of them for a while, plus all those who communicated claimed they were actually captured during the course of Ukraine's unpleasant surprise Kursk offensive final month.