Russia

Zelensky Announces 49 Ukrainian POWs Returned to Kyiv

.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Friday that 49 Ukrainian POWs had actually been returned coming from Russia, along with AFP watching the group being greeted at the perimeter along with Belarus.Zelensky did not clear up whether it belonged to an exchange with Russia, as is commonly the situation, however AFP journalists had actually previously seen Russian prisoners of war being actually packed onto a bus near the edge.It would certainly be actually the second swap between the challenging nations because Kyiv's unpleasant surprise attack right into Russia's Kursk area.Zelensky stated private citizens were likewise one of the returnees, including a "female that was taken hostage when she pertained to take care of her ill dad.".He claimed the exchange additionally consisted of fighters coming from Mariupol's 2022 Azovstal fight, and also soldiers, boundary protections and law enforcement officers.AFP contacted 2 females in their 20s covered in Ukrainian flags as well as acquiring florals, that said they went to the Azovstal plant that was up to Russia after a siege in 2022." I am actually eventually home, I can't think it," pointed out 28-year-old Tamara Miroshnikova, commander of an armed auto of Ukraine's National Protector, pointed out.Another lady, 29-year-old Tetiana Bugay, said she was actually a paramedic at the Azov unit that fought for Azovstal.Previously, AFP viewed the Ukrainian military driving Russian POWs in a bus, some were actually putting on bonnets hiding their skins, which were actually taken out as they were actually loaded in to a minivan.AFP spoke to a few of them briefly, plus all those that spoke stated they were actually captured throughout Ukraine's shock Kursk aggression last month.