A soldier stands on a bridge destroyed by the Ukrainian army to prevent the passage of Russian tanks near Brovary, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, March 28, 2022. (RODRIGO ABD / AP)

MOSCOW/KYIV/ISTANBUL/YEREVAN – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday that it was still possible for Russia and Ukraine to reach an agreement at the upcoming negotiations. 

"There are still chances for an agreement," local media reported, citing Lavrov during a media interview. 

The foreign minister pointed out that Russia was committed to achieving a successful outcome at the upcoming consultations with Ukraine. 

The Russian and Ukrainian delegations will likely meet in Turkey on Tuesday, the Kremlin said Monday. 

Russian and Ukrainian delegations arrived in Istanbul Monday for a fresh round of face-to-face peace talks to end the crisis

The delegations have held three rounds of negotiations in person in Belarus since Feb 28, and the fourth one started on March 14 via video conference.   

The two delegations arrived in Turkey's largest city Istanbul on Monday for a fresh round of face-to-face peace talks, aiming to achieve substantial progress to end the crisis.

The Russian delegation has settled in the Ciragan Palace Kempinski hotel while the Ukrainian delegation has checked in the Shangri-La Bosphorus, both very close to each other in the Besiktas district.

Media reports said the arrival of the Ukrainian delegation had been postponed to evening hours due to the closure of Ukrainian airspace and some logistical problems. According to the NTV broadcaster, the Ukrainian delegates had to go to a neighboring country by road to fly to Istanbul.

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Tuesday's negotiations was scheduled to begin at 10:30 am local time (0730 GMT) at the Dolmabahce Presidential Working Office in Besiktas.

Russia's airstrike hits Ukraine oil depot 

Russia's airstrike hit an oil depot in Ukraine's northwestern Rivne region on Monday, the head of the regional military administration Vitaliy Koval said. 

Experts of the State Service for Emergencies and chemical laboratories are working on the site of the explosions, Koval wrote on Telegram. 

There were no reports on casualties in the attack. 

On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Russian media that Russian forces attacked fuel depots in Ukraine at the time when Ukraine is carrying out the spring sowing campaign. 

Armenia: Not moving warplanes to Russia 

The Armenian defense ministry on Monday denied the alleged transfer of its warplanes to Russia for military operations in Ukraine. 

The ministry said in a statement on its website that the reports from some foreign media which claimed that Armenia had transferred four SU-30 aircraft to Russia for military operations in Ukraine were false. 

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"This information is a total lie," said the ministry, adding that all aircraft of Armenia's armed forces, with their personnel, are stationed in their locations. 

A volunteer smokes next to sandbags used for protection, at a Ukrainian volunteer center in Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine, March 28, 2022. (PETROS GIANNAKOURIS / AP)

The ministry also denied the report that it had a role in transferring some Syrian mercenaries to Ukraine to fight for Russia. 

US biological activities in Ukraine a ‘devil's plan’ 

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova called Washington's military biological activities in Ukraine a "devil's plan," Russia's RIA Novosti news agency reported Sunday. 

"There are too many gaps in this diabolical plan that still have to be filled," Zakharova said. 

Russia's Defense Ministry said earlier that the US invested more than $200 million in Ukrainian biolaboratories, according to the report. 

In this context, Russia will not rule out the possibility of launching a verification mechanism under the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, Zakharova said earlier. 

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that the laboratories in Ukraine were only a small fraction of more than 300 US-funded laboratories currently scattered all over the world, adding that Russia would reveal new documents on their activities, the report said.