Emergency officials in the Siberian region of Sakha-Yakutia said on June 27 that wildfires had spread to 600,000 hectares of land in the region, making it the largest territory in Russia hit by wildfires at the moment. In all, 170 sites in the region have been hit by wildfires since early May, destroying 2.5 million hectares of forest, which is 1 percent of all forest in Sakha-Yakutia. Since May, wildfire emergencies have been announced in other Siberian and Far East regions, such as Buryatia, Zabaikalye, and Khabarovsk. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Siberia.Realities, click here.
Wildfires Hit 600,000 Hectares in Eastern Russia
According to Yakutia's Environment Ministry, work is under way to extinguish 92 forest fires in 16 districts, five of which have been localized.