- Title: Ukraine's Zelenskiy visits a settlement hit by wildfires in Luhansk Region
- Date: 8th July 2020
- Summary: SMOLYANYNOVO, LUHANSK REGION, UKRAINE (JULY 08, 2020) (REUTERS) NADIA AND YURIY COTLENKO SITTING NEXT TO THEIR BURNT-OUT HOUSE SOUNDBITE (Russian) YURIY COTLENKO, SAYING: "This is a natural disaster. First of all, there was a strong wind. Eyewitnesses said, there were flakes of fire flying in the air. Like a bombardment with heat and burning cortex. Also, it was not only here that forest started to burn, but fires also started in different places, on a big scale. In places next to gas pipelines, for example. So the main (firefighters) forces were thrown there. They likely did not expect what happened here." VARIOUS OF HOUSE SMOKING AND BURNING SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) ANATOLIY PYVOVAROV, VILLAGE RESIDENT, SAYING: "It happened all of a sadden. We saw it was burning on a distance. In different directions. It was jumping from one patch to another. And then, as the wind was from that direction, it was coming closer and closer. And then it all started here. It was scary. It became dark as at night." BURNT-OUT CAR VARIOUS OF FIREFIGHTERS AT WORK BURNT-OUT HOUSE UKRAINIAN NATIONAL GUARD SERVICEMEN ARRIVING AT SCENE
- Embargoed: 22nd July 2020 15:35
- Keywords: Eastern Ukraine Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky wildfires
- Location: SMOLYANYNOVE VILLAGE, LUHANSK REGION, UKRAINE
- City: SMOLYANYNOVE VILLAGE, LUHANSK REGION, UKRAINE
- Country: Ukraine
- Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Wildfires/Forest Fires
- Reuters ID: LVA002CLY8QX3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:At least five died, nine hospitalised in Eastern Ukraine as a forest fire swept through villages in the Luhansk region, Ukraine's emergency services said on Wednesday (July 8).
The fire which started on Tuesday has destroyed 80 dacha holiday cottages and 30 houses in two villages of Smolyanynovo and Vovche Ozero of Novoaidar district, Luhansk region, according to the statement.
On July 8 firefighters continued to fight forest fires in Novoaidar district of Luhansk region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited the site and met residents of a settlement hit by wildfires and expressed condolences to those who lost their loved ones in fires.
This spring, forest around the defunct Chernobyl nuclear plant in the north of the country and elsewhere pushed pollution levels in Ukraine's capital Kyiv to the worst in the world.
(Production: Sergei Karazy, Tatiana Gomozova) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2020. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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