Ukraine's president also says that the Ukrainian offensive in Kursk in Russia has slowed down the Russian attacks in eastern Ukraine.
(The offensive) gave us the result we expected. In the Kharkiv region, the enemy has been stopped, their offensive in Donetsk has been slowed down, but it's a very difficult situation there, says Zelenskyj.
He says that Russia has around 40,000 soldiers in Kursk to combat the Ukrainian ground offensive.
They want to see a quick breakthrough, says Zelenskyj.
Earlier on Friday, the president announced that 49 Ukrainian prisoners of war who were held by Russia had been returned to their homeland.
Among those released are "soldiers from Ukraine's armed forces, national guard, national police, and state border service", he writes on the messaging service Telegram.
Some of the soldiers were captured by Russian forces in connection with the battle of Mariupol in 2022, a few months after Russia's large-scale invasion of the neighboring country.
Zelenskyj published on social media pictures of men and women wrapped in Ukrainian flags. The group also includes a military doctor and a girl who, according to the president, was seized by Russian forces when she took care of her sick father.
