The area affected by forest fires in Ukraine has decreased fourfold this year. The area affected by fires in the forests of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” (excluding the Izyum Forestry) amounted to only 1.5 thousand hectares, compared to 6 thousand hectares in 2024. This was reported by the head of the enterprise, Yuriy Bolokhovets.
According to him, since the beginning of the year, forest fires in the European Union have destroyed more than a million hectares of forest, which is a record for the last twenty years. For example, in Ukraine’s neighbor Romania, 126,000 hectares of forest land have burned down. In Ukraine, military factors are added to the negative climatic factors – a significant proportion of fires are associated with rocket and drone strikes. However, the percentage of forest loss due to fires is an order of magnitude lower than in the EU.
The most problematic remains the Izyum Forestry, which this year included three de-occupied forestries in the Kharkiv region. Last year, almost 13,000 hectares of forest burned down here. After joining the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine,” the company notes that new firefighting equipment and tools were transferred to the forestry enterprises, and the salaries of forest protection workers were increased. As a result, the area affected by fires in the Izyum Forestry was reduced by almost 8 times to 1,800 hectares.
The State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” explains that the reduction in the area affected by fires was achieved thanks to the purchase of new firefighting equipment. This year, dozens of new forest firefighting modules were sent to most of the company’s branches, which are capable of reaching places that large fire trucks cannot access. Recently, new tenders were announced for the purchase of 50 modules to be installed in pickup truck beds and 20 trailer platforms with pre-installed forest firefighting modules.
The salaries of forest protection workers have also been increased by an average of 20%.
Over the past two years, the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” has set up more than 100 new modern recreation centers, the presence of which significantly reduces the risk of fires caused by human factors. Another 50 have been opened this year. According to the company, these are full-fledged complexes for safe leisure in the forest with all the necessary infrastructure (children’s and sports grounds, water, electricity, changing rooms, barbecues, etc.).
In addition, foresters continue to make large-scale investments in firefighting infrastructure. This year, 38,800 km of mineralized strips were installed and 183,400 km of existing ones were maintained. The State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” maintains 3,500 fire reservoirs, equips them with piers, and installs water storage tanks so that even in hot weather, each reservoir has the necessary water supply.
Work is continuing on the purchase and installation of 30 new television surveillance systems and the construction of 24 new observation towers. The goal is to completely cover forest areas with a high risk of fire with a video surveillance system. In total, the company operates almost 500 such towers.
To prevent large-scale fires in the future, Lisy Ukrainy has refused to plant pure coniferous stands, creating exclusively mixed forests of coniferous and deciduous species, which are more resistant to climate change and less vulnerable to fires.
Restoration of the Catholic Church of St. Nicholas in Kyiv after the fire will cost at least UAH 75 million, according to preliminary estimates, Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko said.
“According to preliminary estimates, the restoration will require UAH 75 million. The state will allocate the rest of the necessary funds to the amount raised by the business. That is, it is a unique case of public-private partnership,” Tkachenko wrote on his Telegram channel.
According to him, the funds transferred by business representatives will go to emergency work. They are expected to begin in mid-October.
As reported, on Friday evening, mayor of the Ukrainian capital Vitali Klitschko wrote in the Telegram channel that the church of St. Nicholas caught fire in the center of Kyiv. The fire broke out between the first and second floors and quickly spread to the roof of the building. Rescuers said that the area of the fire was 80 square meters, the fire damaged the body. According to the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, the building was not badly damaged. Late in the evening the fire was extinguished, none of the people were injured. Later, the Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko said that the fire destroyed a unique organ, which was located in the building.
The fire beds near the resettled towns of Prypyat and Chornobyl in the exclusion zone of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant have been extinguished, there is no smoldering now, said speaker of the Main Directorate of the State Emergency Situations Service in Kyiv region Viktoriya Ruban.
“Indeed, there were fire beds near Prypyat and Chornobyl, but everything was localized, extinguished and at the moment there is not even smoldering there,” she said on the Ukraine 24 TV on Wednesday.
Spokesperson of the regional department of State Emergency Service added that the houses of the settlers, who live in the exclusion zone, have not been damaged following the fire.
According to her, the fire really came closer to the villages where people lived, but these houses have been saved.
State Emergency Service needs several days to put out torf fires, which have been left after a fire in Chornobyl exclusion zone and around it, Emergency Minister Mykola Chechotkin told President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky at a daily selection conference.
As the president’s press service reported, Zelensky receives a report about this every day so that to keep a situation under control.
Being asked by the president when precisely the fire in the exclusion zone is halted, Chechotkin said that there was no fire.
Zelensky was also informed that the day before, after 16.00 p.m. on April 13, the situation worsened due to a heavy wind, so the fire was difficult to control. Therefore, the Emergency Service sent more equipment and personnel to eliminate the fire. The rain in this area helped firefighters cope with the situation faster.
On the whole, yesterday fire brigade made 227 sorties, 500 tons of water were used. The radiation background in the exclusion zone remains normal and does not increase, said Chechotkin.
The Emergency Minister said that simultaneously with extinguishing of the fire in the exclusion zone, firefighters did not allow the fire to be transferred to military ammunition warehouses, Shelter and Vector facilities, the Chornobyl nuclear power distribution station, and spent nuclear fuel storage.
The National Police reported that on the eve near the two fires arsonists were detained, investigative actions are being carried out
“I’m very glad that the Verkhovna Rada yesterday voted to raise fines for arson and forest destruction. This is a quick and correct reaction of the authorities to serious challenges. Previous fines of several thousand hryvnias were too miserable punishment for such serious crimes,” Zelensky emphasized.
As many as 133 people died and 99 people were injured as a result of fires in Ukraine since the beginning of 2020, the State Emergency Situations Service has said.
“Some 133 people died and 99 people were injured as a result of fires in Ukraine since the beginning of 2020. More than a half of 2,268 fires broke out in citizens’ dwellings,” reads the statement.
