Facts about Russia-Ukraine conflict: New talks to be held in Turkey, forest fires break out near Chernobyl

BEIJING, March 28 (Xinhua) -- The Russia-Ukraine conflict continued on Monday, while Russian and Ukrainian delegations will hold a new round of face-to-face negotiations this week. Following are the latest developments of the situation:

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on Sunday agreed to hold the next round of Russia-Ukraine negotiations in Turkey's Istanbul city, the Turkish presidency said.

The two leaders had a phone conversation on Sunday and discussed the latest situation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the negotiation process, the Turkish presidency said in a statement.

The two leaders "agreed that the next meeting of the negotiation teams of Russia and Ukraine will be held in Istanbul," the statement said.

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Forest fires, which broke out around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant due to hostilities, cover more than 10,000 hectares, Ukrainian Ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova said Sunday.

"We have recorded 31 fires, which caused an increased level of radioactive contamination in the air," Denisova wrote on Facebook.

Ukrainian firefighters are unable to reach the area, which is controlled by Russian forces, Denisova added.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that his country stands ready for an all-for-all prisoner exchange with Russia before the end of hostilities, the presidential press service reported.

"I believe that there is an agreement to exchange everyone for everyone, we have this number -- let's exchange for this number," Zelensky said in an interview with Russian media.

He also noted that Ukraine wants to hand over the corpses of Russian soldiers to their relatives.

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Russian and Ukrainian delegations will hold a new round of face-to-face negotiations on March 29-30, head of Russia's negotiation team Vladimir Medinsky said on Sunday.

"Today, another round of negotiations with Ukraine via video link took place. As a result, it was decided to meet in person on March 29-30," Medinsky, also an aide to the Russian president, said on Telegram.

Meanwhile, David Arakhamia, a member of the Ukrainian delegation, said Sunday that the next live round will be held in Turkey on March 28-30.

Since Feb. 28, Russia and Ukraine have held three rounds of face-to-face peace talks and then a series of online discussions, but have failed to reach a major agreement.