“49 Ukrainians have returned home,” the Ukrainian head of state hailed on Telegram, accompanying his message with photos of soldiers, including women, wrapped in blue and yellow Ukrainian flags.
AFP journalists present at the exchange could see Russian soldiers, some wearing hoods, being taken on a bus to the border with Russia's ally Belarus, but neither Volodymyr Zelensky nor Russian authorities have yet released details about the exchange. and the number of Russians released.
Intense joy
At the border, faces reflect relief but also fatigue. Freed Ukrainian soldiers, mostly women, get off the bus with tears in their eyes, hugging the people waiting for them.
“We're home, we're home!” », some of them repeat. Tamara Mirochnikova, 28, and Tetiana Bougaï, 29, say they “don't believe it”. “It's over!” »
They explain that they were transported for five days by the Russian army, not knowing that they were to be released after two and a half years of captivity.
Then everyone lines up, waving Ukrainian flags, before singing the national anthem. Some make their first phone calls to their loved ones, moments of intense joy.
“We are very happy to see that everyone is returning from captivity,” Olena Tolkachova, a member of the Azov regiment, a unit of the Ukrainian National Guard that fought in particular with the Russian army during the siege of Mariupol and the invasion launched by Moscow, told AFP.
She laments the “worst conditions” of detention, according to her, of Ukrainian prisoners in Russia, without providing additional information on the subject. The released soldiers are then taken to the hospital for check-ups, a routine procedure in these cases.
Thousands of military prisoners
Before the return of these Ukrainian soldiers, the AFP was able to board a bus carrying several Russian prisoners of war, all captured by Ukrainian forces during the cross-border offensive in the Kursk region.
The attack, on an unprecedented scale, launched on August 6, took Russian defenses by surprise, which these soldiers confirmed to AFP, without giving further details, most remaining silent in the face of questions.