.Ukrainian Head of state Volodymyr Zelensky announced Friday that 49 Ukrainian POWs had actually been actually returned from Russia, along with AFP witnessing the team being welcomed at the boundary with Belarus.Zelensky performed certainly not make clear whether it became part of a substitution with Russia, as is actually commonly the situation, yet AFP reporters had actually previously seen Russian hostages being actually filled onto a bus near the border.It would be actually the 2nd swap in between the challenging countries due to the fact that Kyiv's surprise incursion in to Russia's Kursk area.Zelensky stated civilians were also one of the returnees, including a "gal who was taken hostage when she came to look after her sick father.".He stated the substitution additionally featured boxers coming from Mariupol's 2022 Azovstal struggle, along with soldiers, boundary protectors and law enforcement officers.AFP spoke to pair of women in their 20s covered in Ukrainian banners and obtaining florals, who claimed they were at the Azovstal plant that was up to Russia after a siege in 2022." I am actually eventually home, I can't feel it," mentioned 28-year-old Tamara Miroshnikova, commander of an armed car of Ukraine's National Guard, stated.One more female, 29-year-old Tetiana Bugay, said she was actually a paramedic at the Azov brigade that fought for Azovstal.Previously, AFP found the Ukrainian army driving Russian POWs in a bus, some were actually putting on bonnets hiding their faces, which were actually eliminated as they were packed into a minivan.AFP spoke with some of all of them briefly, plus all those who talked stated they were actually captured during the course of Ukraine's shock Kursk offensive last month.