.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared Friday that 49 Ukrainian POWs had been actually returned from Russia, with AFP seeing the group being greeted at the boundary along with Belarus.Zelensky carried out certainly not make clear whether it became part of a substitution along with Russia, as is often the scenario, however AFP writers had earlier found Russian hostages being loaded onto a bus near the perimeter.It would be actually the second exchange between the challenging countries since Kyiv's surprise incursion right into Russia's Kursk location.Zelensky stated private citizens were actually likewise among the returnees, including a "girl that was actually hijacked when she concerned take care of her sick father.".He pointed out the exchange additionally included fighters coming from Mariupol's 2022 Azovstal struggle, along with soldiers, boundary shields and law enforcement officers.AFP talked to 2 females in their 20s covered in Ukrainian flags and also receiving florals, that mentioned they were at the Azovstal plant that fell to Russia after a siege in 2022." I'm finally home, I can't think it," stated 28-year-old Tamara Miroshnikova, commander of an equipped motor vehicle of Ukraine's National Shield, claimed.An additional girl, 29-year-old Tetiana Bugay, mentioned she was actually a paramedic at the Azov unit that defended Azovstal.Previously, AFP saw the Ukrainian army steering Russian POWs in a bus, some were actually wearing bonnets hiding their faces, which were taken out as they were loaded in to a minivan.AFP contacted a few of them for a while, and all those who communicated said they were taken captive throughout Ukraine's shock Kursk onslaught final month.