YAKUTIA, Russia (Reuters) - Russian military helicopters flew in firefighters to battle Siberian wildfires on Wednesday, and the Kremlin said climate change was to blame for the unprecedented blazes. Fires raged across almost 800,000 hectares of Russian forestland, carpeting swathes of the northeastern region of Yakutia in smoke. A Russian air force Mi-8 military helicopter carried out reconnaissance flights to identify the worst-affected areas of Yakutia and transported units of firefighters as thick smoke billowed up from the forest. Fires tear through Russian forestland every year, but they have become more intense in recent seasons amid unusually high temperatures across the northern Siberian tundra. The Kremlin on Wednesday dismissed criticism that Russian planes had helped foreign countries like Greence and Turkey battle wildfires while Russia itself was burning.

Source: The Star July 14, 2021 15:22 UTC