Ukraine has recovered the bodies of 563 soldiers from Russia, authorities announced in Kiev on Friday.
They included more than 400 soldiers who had died in the Donetsk region, including in the Bakhmut section of the front line.
The remains of more than 150 others were transferred from morgues in Russia. It has not been revealed where these soldiers died.
Local media reported that Russia received the remains of 37 soldiers in return.
According to official figures, more than 2,100 bodies have been returned to Ukraine this year alone.
The exchange of fallen or captured soldiers is one of the last remaining humanitarian contacts between the warring countries.
Meanwhile, fighting continued in eastern Ukraine on Friday, with the General Staff in Kiev recording 114 attacks by Russian forces.
“The enemy is using all available forces and means to achieve its goals,” the Ukrainian military leadership said, adding that 114 Russian attacks have been recorded.
The main trouble spots were again the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove districts, west of Donetsk.
Britain’s Ministry of Defense said Russian drone attacks on Ukraine have increased sharply in the past month, with around 2,000 unmanned combat drones deployed against Ukrainian targets in October, up from 700 in September.
It said the numbers continue to rise and that “it is likely that the high numbers seen in September and October so far will return to normal.”
The ministry attributes the increase to high Russian investments in various types of drones and an expansion of launch sites, which are easy to recover once targeted.
If drone production continues unhindered, a workforce shortage would be the most likely factor limiting wider use, the report said.
Earlier, at least 25 people were injured in a residential area of the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv when a Russian airstrike struck the city overnight, authorities said Friday morning.
The entrance to a multi-storey residential building was partially destroyed, the region’s military governor, Oleh Syniehubov, wrote on Telegram.
Thirty residents were evacuated overnight due to the risk of the building collapsing, he added.
Nearby buildings, vehicles and the entrance to an underground train station were also damaged.
Russia again used powerful guided bombs to attack Ukraine’s second-largest city, causing further damage to buildings, businesses, vehicles and another train station in another central district.
Located close to the Russian border, Kharkiv has been repeatedly attacked since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Russia controls about a fifth of Ukrainian territory, including the Crimean Peninsula, which it annexed in 2014.
