Families of missing Ukrainian soldiers gathered close to the border with Belarus on Monday, as a planned prisoner swaps between Russia and Ukraine.

As soon as the bus carrying prisoners of the war, a crowd of relatives moved forward, many branding photos of the missing father, brothers and sons.

The faces were full of apprehension. Some are expected to be reunited, and most were desperate for information after waiting for any news.

During the latest round of direct negotiations in Turkey last week, both the warnings agreed to the sick and heavy injured prisoners to exchange prisoners of the war, which were under 25, and the bodies of 12,000 soldiers.

Ukraine President Volodimier Zelansky said that the exchange would be “in several stages” in the coming days.

Writing on Telegram, he said: “The process is quite complex, there are many sensitive details, the conversation continues almost every day.”

The Russian Ministry of Defense said that “the first group of Russian soldiers under the age of 25 was returned from the region controlled by the Kiev region” and that “similar number” returned to Ukraine. Any party provided an accurate figure of how many people were exchanged.

Along with previous exchanges, Moscow stated that the repatriated Russian soldiers were receiving psychological and medical aid in Belarus.

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

Tetiana, who had gathered with other Ukrainians in the Chernihiv region close to Belarus, signed a cardboard with pictures of her father, Valentin and cousin, Mycola, both are still missing.

“When my father went to fight, my biggest fear was that he would go missing,” he said, his eyes were filling with tears. “I hoped that maybe he would be injured and would return.”

The war has made a heavy toll accurate on the family. Tetiana’s uncle was killed last September, but his body was back only recently to bury.

When one of the returned prisoners appeared at the top window, the women waiting below threw the name of the regiment on him, hopefully they could have the news.

He apologized, made a heart sign with his hands and “Slava Ukraine” – said glory for Ukraine. “Herium Slava” – Glory for The Heroes – the crowd responded in united.

The crowd was briefly reflected because they fled from inside, some soldiers saw the gaunt.

“He spent a lot of time in the detention of Russian places, without any visit to the International Red Cross,” Petro Yatsenko of the coordination headquarters for the prisoners of Ukraine’s War.

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

But 23 -year -old Valera, back to the soil of the house after three years and three months of imprisonment, looked quite happy after a bowl of Ukrainian soup.

As soon as he turned to leave, women pressed forward, pushed the missing pictures into their arms, hopefully he can recognize someone.

Last week, Moscow and Kiev accused each other of interrupting planned repatriation The body of dead soldiers.

Russia said the bodies of more than 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers were taken to an agreed exchange point, but Ukrainian officials had never come. Ukraine accused Moscow of “playing dirty games” and alleged that Russia did not stick to Swap’s agreed parameters.

In late May, Russia and Ukraine each handed over 390 soldiers and citizens to the largest prisoner exchange as Russia began a full -scale invasion in 2022.

Meanwhile, the war continued throughout the night, Moscow launched a record 479 drone in Ukraine, which included in the western region of Rivane, which was spared from large -scale attacks.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said that it had targeted the dubno base of Rivane and in response it has been described as “one of the anti -counterfeit attacks”. Ukraine’s adventurous drone attacks on Russian air areas on 1 June,

Throughout the night, Russian launch caused damage in many Ukrainian regions but there was no report on the number of casualties.

Russia has recently extended its attacks on Ukraine, a new record of drones fired in the country each week.

For her share, Kiev said she attacked another Russian airbase in the Nizhny Novgorod region, 400 miles from the Ukrainian border.

Ukraine stated that base house aircraft launched hypersonic missiles and damaged “two units of enemy aircraft”.

It also targeted an electronics factory that Kiev says that drones and aerial bombs make equipment to guide the bomb.

The video shows an attack drone, and one of the explosions due to a large fire in the plant. The production there has been suspended.