Wildfires burning near Kyiv, city wrapped in smoke

The fire broke out on August 31 on the territory of Ivankivsky Ahrolis and Klavdiyivsky Liskhoz and spread to 24 hectares, then the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said on Thursday morning. "The fire is being put out. An operative staff led by the first deputy head of the State Emergency Service department in the Kyiv region is working on the ground," the report said. Another forest fire broke out on Wednesday in the Bila Dibrova district of the Darnytsia forestry area. The fire was burning on 15 hectares on Wednesday evening. The State Emergency Service said trees were being logged to prevent the fire from spreading yet "the fire zone was large, the weather was hot and the winds were gusty and variable which complicated the work of firefighters." The emergency situations department of the Kyiv city state administration has warned city residents and visitors that the forest fire between Brovary and Zazymya "threatened a spread of products of the combustion of the fire in the Kyiv region into some districts of the city of Kyiv." The smell of burning wood reached Kyiv on Wednesday evening. The weather is dry and calm, and the persistent smell and smoke impregnated many districts of the city, including the center, by Thursday morning. Kyiv schools have been recommended to suspend classes and automobilists have been advised to use public transport because of the abnormal heat and smoke, the press center of the Kyiv city state administration said on Thursday morning. "The Kyiv city state administration's commission for man-made environmental safety and emergency situations has decided to suspend lessons at city schools due to the spreading products of the combustion of the fires in the 30-kilometer zone in the Kyiv region and high air temperatures," the report said.