Ukraine returns bodies of 502 fallen defenders

Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War reported the information.

Among the returned fallen defenders of Ukraine:

• 397 from the Donetsk sector,
• 24 from the Luhansk sector,
• 64 from the Zaporizhzhia sector,
• 17 from morgues located on Russian territory.

"The fallen defenders of Ukraine were returned as a result of the joint efforts of the staff of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, the Central Department of Civil-Military Cooperation of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the Unified Center of the Security Service of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, the Office of the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, the Secretariat of the Commissioner for Persons Missing under Special Circumstances, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, and other structures of the Security and Defense Sector of Ukraine," the message reads.

The Coordination Headquarters also added that the identification of the deceased will be carried out as soon as possible.

• As a result of the repatriation efforts on November 8, 563 fallen defenders were returned to Ukraine. However, Russia did not return the body of journalist Viktoria Roshchyna, who died in captivity.