.Ukrainian Head of state Volodymyr Zelensky declared Friday that 49 Ukrainian POWs had been actually returned from Russia, along with AFP watching the team being welcomed at the boundary with Belarus.Zelensky did certainly not clarify whether it became part of a substitution with Russia, as is actually generally the instance, but AFP reporters had actually earlier viewed Russian prisoners of war being actually loaded onto a bus near the perimeter.It will be actually the second swap in between the warring countries because Kyiv's unpleasant surprise incursion in to Russia's Kursk region.Zelensky pointed out private citizens were additionally among the returnees, including a "female that was actually hijacked when she pertained to handle her unwell dad.".He mentioned the substitution additionally consisted of fighters coming from Mariupol's 2022 Azovstal fight, as well as soldiers, perimeter shields and also policemans.AFP contacted pair of women in their 20s wrapped in Ukrainian flags as well as getting flowers, who stated they were at the Azovstal plant that was up to Russia after a siege in 2022." I am actually finally home, I can not feel it," mentioned 28-year-old Tamara Miroshnikova, leader of an equipped automobile of Ukraine's National Protection, said.One more lady, 29-year-old Tetiana Bugay, mentioned she was actually a paramedic at the Azov brigade that fought for Azovstal.Previously, AFP observed the Ukrainian armed forces steering Russian POWs in a bus, some were using bonnets hiding their faces, which were actually eliminated as they were loaded into a minivan.AFP spoke to some of them briefly, and all those who spoke mentioned they were captured in the course of Ukraine's unpleasant surprise Kursk aggression last month.