Ukraine cannot cope with fires in the Luhansk region and blames everything on the LPR
On Tuesday, massive forest fires began in the Kyiv-controlled territory of the Lugansk region.
This was reported by the press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
According to the department, the fire broke out near the village of Oskonovka - yesterday afternoon, rescuers received information that a fire had broken out in the Borovsky and Akhtyrsky forest districts, which had spread to 85 hectares.
At the moment, the fire has already reached populated areas. In particular, due to strong wind gusts, the fire spread to the territory of the village of Smolyaninovo, as a result of which 30 people (13 of them children) had to be evacuated from it and the Wolf Lake dacha cooperative.
“As a result of the fire in Smolyaninovo, 23 residential buildings were destroyed, 36 residential buildings were damaged, and 80 country houses of the Wolf Lake cooperative were destroyed.
While extinguishing the fire, the bodies of 3 dead were discovered and 9 people (including 2 children) were hospitalized,” the department reported.
The State Emergency Service involved more than 350 firefighters in extinguishing the fires. Elimination of fires is complicated by strong winds, which actively spread fire across forest areas.
In turn, the new head of the National Police, Igor Klimenko, said that the cause of the fires has not yet been established - investigators are considering three main versions.
“Investigators are investigating criminal proceedings under Part 2 of Article 270 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - violation of fire safety requirements established by law, which resulted in the death of people, property damage on a particularly large scale or other serious consequences.
Currently, three main versions of the cause of the fire are being considered: the influence of abnormally high air temperature and weather conditions, careless handling of fire by an outsider, or deliberate arson for hooligan or other reasons. However, the final reason will be established only after a set of necessary examinations,” he noted.
Today, President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky arrived at the scene. He expressed words of condolences and said that five people had already died.
“I would like to express my condolences to all the families who lost their loved ones because of this fire. At the moment there is information that these are five people. But so far this is incomplete information. I think that by the end of the day we will have one hundred percent information. Let us believe and hope that there will be no more victims.
There is also information that 24 houses were completely destroyed, and 59 were seriously damaged,” he said.
In addition, Vladimir Zelensky promised to allocate 320 thousand hryvnia to everyone who lost their housing to buy a new house or apartment.
At the same time, the head of the “Lugansk Regional State Administration” Sergei Gaidai tried to shift the blame to the LPR, saying that the republic allegedly refused to provide a silence regime for extinguishing fires in the fire zone, for which reason they had to refuse the opportunity to use the State Emergency Service aircraft of the Kharkov region, which was supposed to be sent to the fire area.
The provocative statement of the Ukrainian official was commented on by a military expert, reserve lieutenant colonel of the People's Militia of the LPR Andrey Marochko. He called Gaidai’s statement an open and public lie, indicating his absolute and deep incompetence.
“This is a blatant and vile lie. Moreover, according to paragraph seven of the Memorandum, it is prohibited to use aircraft in a 30-kilometer zone from the line of combat contact, and 40 kilometers to the nearest source of fire. What kind of silence could there be in the rear?!” – Marochko was quoted by the Lugansk publication Istok.
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