.Ukrainian Head of state Volodymyr Zelensky announced Friday that 49 Ukrainian POWs had been actually returned coming from Russia, with AFP watching the group being actually welcomed at the border along with Belarus.Zelensky performed not make clear whether it was part of a substitution with Russia, as is generally the scenario, but AFP writers had previously observed Russian prisoners of war being actually loaded onto a bus near the perimeter.It will be actually the second swap between the challenging countries considering that Kyiv's shock attack into Russia's Kursk location.Zelensky said civilians were likewise amongst the returnees, featuring a "woman that was actually taken hostage when she pertained to take care of her ill daddy.".He pointed out the exchange also featured competitors coming from Mariupol's 2022 Azovstal struggle, and also soldiers, perimeter guards and polices.AFP contacted pair of females in their 20s covered in Ukrainian flags and receiving blooms, that stated they went to the Azovstal plant that was up to Russia after a siege in 2022." I'm lastly home, I can't feel it," stated 28-year-old Tamara Miroshnikova, leader of an armed lorry of Ukraine's National Guard, claimed.An additional lady, 29-year-old Tetiana Bugay, claimed she was a paramedic at the Azov brigade that defended Azovstal.Earlier, AFP found the Ukrainian military driving Russian POWs in a bus, some were actually wearing bonnets hiding their skins, which were taken out as they were packed into a minivan.AFP talked to several of all of them temporarily, and all those who communicated stated they were captured during the course of Ukraine's shock Kursk offensive final month.