Russia and Ukraine exchanged prisoners of war on July 4, hours after Moscow launched an airstrike that authorities in Kiev said was the largest of the war so far.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted images on Telegram showing returned soldiers wrapped in Ukrainian flags.
"Today, our defenders who defended Ukraine in different regions are returning," he wrote, above a video showing emotional scenes as the returned prisoners exit the bus.
Zelensky said that civilians were among those released by Russia.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the returned soldiers are currently in Belarus, where they will receive medical and psychological support.
It was not immediately clear how many people were involved in the exchange. The exchange is part of an ongoing agreement under which buses full of prisoners of war have crossed the border in both directions. The bodies of dead soldiers have also been exchanged in the past.
Previously, Russian forces attacked Ukraine in a massive nighttime attack hours after a phone call between the US president and Russia that Donald Trump said left him "disappointed".
Kiev bore the brunt of the attack, which Ukrainian officials said involved more than 500 drones and 11 missiles.
There were no immediate reports of casualties, but more than 20 people were injured in the attacks, which hit civilian targets, including a medical facility in the Ukrainian capital.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiha wrote on the Iks website: "Absolutely horrible and sleepless night in Kiev. One of the worst ever. Hundreds of Russian drones and ballistic missiles fell on the capital of Ukraine. Right after Putin spoke with President Trump. And he's doing it on purpose."
Emergency services reported that residential properties were damaged and fires had broken out in apartment buildings.
"As a result of the enemy's night attack on the capital, five ambulances, which were responding to calls for injured residents of Kiev, were damaged. According to current information, no doctors were injured," said the city's mayor, Vitali Klitschko.
He added that around 14 people were hospitalized after the attack. One of the injured is reportedly a XNUMX-year-old girl.
The attacks underscored the message Russian President Vladimir Putin conveyed to Trump in a roughly hour-long phone call on July 3 that Moscow would not give up its goals in Ukraine.
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