KYIV, Ukraine — Kyiv on Friday said Russian authorities returned over 500 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers killed in combat, with most having died in the eastern Donetsk region.

Russia and Ukraine have been exchanging bodies and prisoners of war since the first months of the conflict — with casualties estimated to be high on both sides.

"As a result of repatriation activities, the bodies of 502 fallen defenders were returned to territory controlled by the government of Ukraine," Kyiv's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said on social media.

The centre said that 397 of the bodies were returned from the embattled Donetsk region, where fighting is most intense.

It said 24 were returned from the eastern Lugansk region and 64 from the southern Zaporizhzhia area, while 17 were handed back from morgues on Russian territory.

"We are grateful for the assistance of the International Committee of the Red Cross," Kyiv's centre said.

It said the bodies will be taken for forensic medical examination and that "together with the expert institutions, the deceased will be identified as soon as possible."

Russia, for its part, does not announce the return of its bodies.