Facts about Russia-Ukraine conflict: 35 Russian servicemen sent back to Russia after negotiations

KIEV/MOSCOW, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- The following are the latest developments in the Ukraine crisis:

As a result of negotiations, 35 Russian servicemen, who were in mortal danger in captivity, were returned from the territory controlled by Kiev, said the Russian Defense Ministry on Wednesday.

Russian military transport aircraft will deliver the released soldiers to Moscow for treatment and rehabilitation at medical institutions of the ministry, it said in a statement.

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At least eight people were killed and dozens injured in Ukraine on Wednesday as a result of Russia's missile strikes, Ukrainian authorities said.

The attack on the Ukrainian capital of Kiev left three dead and 11 wounded, said Mayor Vitali Klitschko, noting that it also damaged infrastructure facilities.

Meanwhile, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian president's office, has reportedly said that at least five people were killed and 20 injured in the town of Vyshgorod, some 20 km north of Kiev.

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Almost all thermal and hydroelectric stations in Ukraine have been damaged by Russia's air attacks, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, chief executive officer of the Ukrainian state-run energy company Ukrenergo, was quoted by the government-run Ukrinform news agency as saying on Tuesday.

According to him, Russian forces carried out six massive attacks against Ukraine's energy facilities in the recent weeks.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Moscow is ready to expand the supply of fertilizers and work with all partners in this area.

There are artificial barriers created by some countries to the export of Russian fertilizers, which are negatively affecting global markets, Putin said during a meeting with Dmitry Mazepin, chairman of the Commission on Mineral Fertilizer Production and Trading of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.

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Russia's State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom said the meeting held Wednesday between its director general and the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is "substantive and frank."

Alexei Likhachev, director general of Rosatom, held a working meeting with IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi in the Turkish city of Istanbul. The two parties discussed in detail the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (NPP) and the role of the IAEA mission in ensuring the plant's safety, said a statement.