According to Volodymyr Zelensky, among the returned refugees were also civilians. (Dossier)
Ukraine-Belarus border:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Friday that 49 Ukrainian prisoners of war have returned from Russia. AFP witnessed the group being greeted at the border with Belarus.
Zelensky did not clarify whether it was an exchange with Russia, as is usually the case, but AFP journalists had earlier seen Russian prisoners of war being loaded onto a bus near the border.
It would be the second exchange between the warring countries since Kiev's surprise invasion of Russia's Kursk region.
According to Zelensky, among the returned refugees were also civilians, including a “girl who was taken hostage when she came to care for her sick father”.
He said that fighters from the 2022 Battle of Azovstal in Mariupol were also present at the exchange, as well as soldiers, border guards and police officers.
AFP spoke to two women in their 20s who were draped in Ukrainian flags and received flowers. They said they were at the Azovstal plant, which was captured by Russia in 2022 after a siege.
“I'm finally home, I can't believe it,” said 28-year-old Tamara Miroshnikova, commander of an armed vehicle of the National Guard of Ukraine.
Another woman, 29-year-old Tetiana Bugay, said she was a medic in the Azov Brigade that fought for Azovstal.
Earlier, AFP saw the Ukrainian army driving Russian prisoners of war around in a bus. Some wore hoods covering their faces. The hoods were removed as they were loaded into a minibus.
AFP spoke briefly to some of them and all of the speakers said they had been captured during Ukraine's surprise Kursk offensive last month.
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