The families of the missing Ukrainians gather with the start of the exchange of prisoners

The families of the missing Ukrainian soldiers gathered near the border with Belarus on Monday, where a planned prisoner signed between Russia and Ukraine.

With the arrival of the bus carrying the prisoners of war, a crowd of relatives rose forward, as many missing images of the fathers, brotherhood and children lost.

The faces are filled with fear. Few expected to be reunited, most of them were desperate to get information after waiting for years for any news.

During the last round of direct talks in Türkiye last week, the two warring sides agreed to exchanging patients with the patient and wounded, and those under the age of 25, and the bodies of 12,000 soldiers.

Ukraine President Volodimir Zellinski said the exchange will reveal “in several stages” in the coming days.

He said that writing on a telegram: “The process is very complicated, there are many sensitive details, and negotiations continue almost every day.”

The Russian Ministry of Defense said, “The first group of Russian soldiers under the age of 25 was returned from the region controlled by the Kiev regime,” and that the “similar number” had been returned to Ukraine, “the Russian Ministry of Defense said. None of the two sides provided an accurate number of people who were exchanged.

As with previous exchanges, Moscow said that the Russian soldiers who re -received psychological and medical assistance in Belarus.

Kiev officials said that some Ukrainian prisoners who returned on Monday were in Russian families since the beginning of the war.

Titiana, who gathered with other Ukrainians in the Cherhnif region near Belarus, was carrying a tick with pictures of her father, Valentin, and his cousin, Micola, both are still missing.

“When my father went to fight, my oldest fear was to disappear,” she said. “I was hoping to hurt and return.”

The war has imposed heavy on the family. Titiana’s uncle was killed last September, but his body was no longer only for burial.

When one of the prisoners who were returned in a window appeared on the upper floor, the women below gave names to him, hoping to have news.

He apologized, made the heart mark with his hands and called “the Ukrainian Slava” – glory to Ukraine. “Heroiam Slava” – the glory of the heroes – the crowd answered in complete harmony.

The crowd hinted shortly while accompanying them inside, some soldiers looked meager.

“They spent a lot of time in Russian detention places, without any visits to the International Red Cross,” said Petro Yatsko from coordinating the headquarters of the war tapes, for the BBC.

“Their health conditions are very bad. They did not have enough food. Of course they need a long period of rehabilitation.”

But 23 -year -old Valera, who appeared on the homeland three years and three months of families, looked happy enough after a bowl of Ukrainian soup.

When he turned to leave, women pressed forward, and pushed pictures of the missing in his arms, hoping to get to know someone.

Last week, Moscow and Kiev accused each other of disrupting the planned return From the dead bodies of the soldiers.

Russia said that the bodies of more than 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers were transferred to an agreed point of exchange, but Ukrainian officials have never arrived. Ukraine accused Moscow of “playing dirty games” and claimed that Russia was not adhering to the agreed standards of exchange.

In late May, Russia and Ukraine handed over more than 390 soldiers and civilians in the largest exchange of prisoners since Russia launched a comprehensive invasion in 2022.

Meanwhile, the war continued overnight, as Moscow launched 479 drones in Ukraine, including the western region of Revin, which had been largely successful.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said it had targeted the River Dubno base, describing this as a “revenge strike” in response to Bold drone attacks in Ukraine on Russian airports on June 1.

Russian releases overnight caused damage in many Ukrainian regions, but there were no reports on victims.

Russia recently escalated its attacks on Ukraine, where every week he achieved a new record of drones launched in the country.

For her part, Kiev said that she attacked another Russian air base in the Nizhny Novgorod area, which is 400 miles from the Ukrainian border.

Ukraine said that the basis includes planes that launch non -sound missiles and that it was damaged “two enemy planes.”

It also targeted an electronics factory that Kyiv says that the manufacture of equipment to direct drones and air bombs.

The video shows one of the explosions caused by an attack by an attack, and a large fire in the factory. The production was suspended there.