Wildfires burn in Kyiv, surrounding regions

Wildfires continued burning in the city of Kyiv, as
well as the surrounding Kyiv region and neighboring Zhytomyr region this
weekend, encompassing thousands of hectares and destroying at least 80 homes.
The night of Apr. 16, the fires were enough to cause a dust storm to envelop
the capital, with pollution levels remaining high throughout the weekend.
Possible causes of the fires have been identified as weed-burning activity, as
well as provocations, state officials said. A third possible cause is sabotage,
implying the possible involvement of pro-Russian forces, the Internal Affairs
Ministry said on Facebook on Apr. 18.

In response, the Internal Affairs Ministry created a
special group to conduct anti-sabotage operations in forests, Minister Arsen
Avakov said on his Facebook page on Apr. 20.  “It was a surprisingly dry
winter – water levels in the ecosystem declined by 1.5-2 meters. Forests,
particularly coniferous, are easily susceptible to fire. Peatlands have dried
up, and that’s a particular problem. All of this, of course, is an opportunity
for wretches and provocateurs,” he said.

Zenon Zawada: There is certainly an element of reckless weed-burning to these fires.
At the same time, the Internal Affairs Ministry reported evidence of the fires
appearing as deliberate arson. Given the dry weather forecasts, these fires
could very well continue to wreak havoc.