.Ukrainian Head of state Volodymyr Zelensky announced Friday that 49 Ukrainian POWs had been actually come back coming from Russia, with AFP witnessing the team being welcomed at the border with Belarus.Zelensky carried out certainly not make clear whether it was part of a substitution with Russia, as is actually commonly the case, however AFP reporters had actually previously seen Russian hostages being loaded onto a bus near the border.It will be actually the second exchange between the challenging countries considering that Kyiv's shock incursion into Russia's Kursk location.Zelensky pointed out civilians were actually additionally among the returnees, featuring a "lady that was taken hostage when she concerned care for her ill dad.".He mentioned the substitution additionally consisted of fighters coming from Mariupol's 2022 Azovstal war, and also soldiers, boundary protectors and law enforcement agents.AFP contacted pair of ladies in their 20s wrapped in Ukrainian banners and getting flowers, who mentioned they went to the Azovstal vegetation that was up to Russia after a siege in 2022." I am actually lastly home, I can't think it," stated 28-year-old Tamara Miroshnikova, commander of an armed automobile of Ukraine's National Shield, mentioned.One more lady, 29-year-old Tetiana Bugay, mentioned she was actually a medic at the Azov unit that defended Azovstal.Earlier, AFP viewed the Ukrainian armed forces driving Russian POWs in a bus, some were actually using bonnets concealing their faces, which were actually removed as they were actually loaded right into a minivan.AFP contacted a number of them briefly, plus all those who spoke mentioned they were captured during the course of Ukraine's unpleasant surprise Kursk onslaught final month.