.Ukrainian Head of state Volodymyr Zelensky announced Friday that 49 Ukrainian POWs had actually been come back from Russia, with AFP witnessing the team being actually welcomed at the boundary along with Belarus.Zelensky did not clear up whether it was part of an exchange along with Russia, as is actually often the scenario, however AFP journalists had actually earlier found Russian prisoners of war being actually packed onto a bus near the borderline.It will be the second substitution in between the challenging countries due to the fact that Kyiv's surprise incursion into Russia's Kursk region.Zelensky stated civilians were additionally among the returnees, featuring a "girl that was actually taken hostage when she came to deal with her unwell dad.".He claimed the exchange likewise consisted of boxers coming from Mariupol's 2022 Azovstal fight, as well as soldiers, perimeter protections and polices.AFP spoke to 2 girls in their 20s covered in Ukrainian banners and receiving blossoms, that mentioned they went to the Azovstal vegetation that fell to Russia after a siege in 2022." I'm ultimately home, I can't think it," said 28-year-old Tamara Miroshnikova, leader of an equipped auto of Ukraine's National Guard, mentioned.An additional woman, 29-year-old Tetiana Bugay, stated she was a medic at the Azov unit that defended Azovstal.Previously, AFP viewed the Ukrainian armed forces steering Russian POWs in a bus, some were wearing hoods concealing their skins, which were actually cleared away as they were loaded right into a minivan.AFP contacted a few of all of them briefly, plus all those that talked stated they were actually taken captive in the course of Ukraine's shock Kursk aggression final month.