.Ukrainian Head of state Volodymyr Zelensky introduced Friday that 49 Ukrainian POWs had actually been returned from Russia, along with AFP experiencing the group being actually welcomed at the perimeter along with Belarus.Zelensky did not clarify whether it became part of an exchange along with Russia, as is actually usually the situation, yet AFP reporters had earlier viewed Russian hostages being actually loaded onto a bus near the perimeter.It would certainly be the 2nd exchange in between the warring nations because Kyiv's shock incursion in to Russia's Kursk region.Zelensky claimed private citizens were likewise one of the returnees, consisting of a "lady that was actually hijacked when she came to take care of her sick daddy.".He said the substitution also featured competitors from Mariupol's 2022 Azovstal struggle, along with soldiers, border protectors and law enforcement agents.AFP spoke to 2 girls in their 20s covered in Ukrainian flags and receiving blooms, that said they were at the Azovstal plant that fell to Russia after a siege in 2022." I'm finally home, I can't feel it," said 28-year-old Tamara Miroshnikova, leader of an armed lorry of Ukraine's National Protection, pointed out.One more girl, 29-year-old Tetiana Bugay, stated she was a medic at the Azov brigade that defended Azovstal.Previously, AFP observed the Ukrainian military steering Russian POWs in a bus, some were actually putting on hoods concealing their skins, which were actually cleared away as they were actually packed in to a minivan.AFP talked to a few of them briefly, and all those who talked claimed they were captured during the course of Ukraine's surprise Kursk aggression last month.