.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed Friday that 49 Ukrainian POWs had actually been actually returned from Russia, with AFP witnessing the team being greeted at the perimeter with Belarus.Zelensky did not clear up whether it belonged to a substitution with Russia, as is actually generally the scenario, yet AFP writers had actually earlier viewed Russian prisoners of war being packed onto a bus near the borderline.It would certainly be the second substitution between the challenging nations since Kyiv's unpleasant surprise attack into Russia's Kursk region.Zelensky stated private citizens were actually additionally amongst the returnees, featuring a "woman that was taken hostage when she came to handle her unwell father.".He claimed the substitution additionally featured boxers coming from Mariupol's 2022 Azovstal battle, in addition to soldiers, perimeter protections and also polices.AFP contacted two girls in their 20s wrapped in Ukrainian flags as well as receiving blossoms, who mentioned they were at the Azovstal plant that was up to Russia after a siege in 2022." I'm lastly home, I can't believe it," mentioned 28-year-old Tamara Miroshnikova, leader of an equipped motor vehicle of Ukraine's National Protection, said.An additional girl, 29-year-old Tetiana Bugay, claimed she was actually a medic at the Azov unit that defended Azovstal.Previously, AFP observed the Ukrainian armed forces driving Russian POWs in a bus, some were actually putting on bonnets hiding their faces, which were taken out as they were packed right into a minivan.AFP contacted several of all of them quickly, plus all those that communicated mentioned they were actually captured during the course of Ukraine's unpleasant surprise Kursk onslaught final month.