.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Friday that 49 Ukrainian POWs had actually been returned from Russia, along with AFP observing the group being actually greeted at the perimeter along with Belarus.Zelensky did not make clear whether it was part of a substitution along with Russia, as is generally the case, however AFP journalists had actually previously seen Russian hostages being loaded onto a bus near the borderline.It will be the 2nd substitution between the warring nations considering that Kyiv's unpleasant surprise attack into Russia's Kursk region.Zelensky stated civilians were actually additionally one of the returnees, including a "woman that was hijacked when she related to look after her unwell daddy.".He said the substitution likewise featured boxers from Mariupol's 2022 Azovstal struggle, and also soldiers, border protectors and also police officers.AFP talked with two ladies in their 20s covered in Ukrainian flags and also getting blossoms, that mentioned they went to the Azovstal vegetation that fell to Russia after a siege in 2022." I am actually ultimately home, I can't feel it," mentioned 28-year-old Tamara Miroshnikova, commander of an armed motor vehicle of Ukraine's National Shield, said.One more girl, 29-year-old Tetiana Bugay, claimed she was actually a paramedic at the Azov brigade that fought for Azovstal.Previously, AFP saw the Ukrainian army steering Russian POWs in a bus, some were putting on hoods hiding their faces, which were actually taken out as they were packed in to a minivan.AFP contacted a few of all of them for a while, and all those that communicated said they were taken captive during Ukraine's unpleasant surprise Kursk onslaught final month.