Russian President Vladimir Putin said today that the regions of the Russian West are in a “difficult” situation, smoke from forest fires reaches the capital Moscow, explaining at a meeting with regional authorities that “due to abnormal weather conditions in a number of regions of the European part of the country, the situation complicated at the moment.”

Putin specifically mentioned the Ryazan region, about 250 kilometers southeast of Moscow, where fires continue to spread “due to strong winds.”

Acting regional governor Pavel Malikov confirmed to Putin that more than 9,500 fire and rescue units, as well as eight planes and seven helicopters, were sent to extinguish the fires. Celsius. It hasn’t rained and we don’t expect it to happen soon.

But he said the fires “will be brought under control in two to three days and will be completely extinguished within a week or two.”

Over the past week, smoke from the Ryazan fires has reached parts of Moscow and enveloped the capital again on Monday.