UKRAINE, BALAKLIIA, Apr 22 — The fire near Balakliia broke out on the morning of April 19. Coniferous litter and reeds caught fire spanning the area of 60 hectares, reported the local State Emergency Service (SES). On April 22, the firefighters localized a large-scale fire, but the forest is still burning.
Balakliia is a city in Izium district, more than 55 miles (90 kilometers) from Kharkiv. The Russian army occupied the city in March 2022, and Ukrainian troops liberated it during the Kharkiv counteroffensive in September 2022.
Izium district is one of the most mined regions in Kharkiv Oblast because of Russian occupation—and that what’s complicates firefighters’ work.
As of 9 a.m. on April 22, 57 lifeguards with 17 units of SES equipment and 26 workers with 12 units of Balakliia forestry equipment have been working in the forest with the help of sappers checking the territories for equipment transportation for four days.
On April 20, a fire truck from Balakliia forestry blew up on an explosive object while extinguishing the fire. Two foresters got a heavy stress reaction in the aftermath.
On April 22, the lifeguards and the workers of Balakliia forestry finally put out the fire covering 349 hectares. Now, they are trying to extinguish the separate fire sites.
Russian attacks are harmful to Ukraine’s environment and cause fires all the time. During three years of full-scale war, Russia caused €80 billion of damages to Ukraine’s environment, said Svitlana Hrynchuk, the Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, during a joint meeting of the Ukrainian government and the European Commission.
Read more
- Ombudsman: Russian troops executed 79 Ukrainian PoWs in less than 1 year
- Russia stole over 1,7 million assets of cultural heritage from Ukraine, is selling them on black market
Subscribe to news from Kharkiv, Ukraine
Most important stories from the frontline region
