The scale of forest fires in Russia is many times greater than the Kremlin admits – Ukrainian intelligence
Kyiv • UNN
The Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine reported that Russia is concealing the real scale of forest fires that are destroying hectares of forest. In the first six months of 2025, fire covered about 9.5 million hectares of forest, while only 2.7 million hectares were officially recognized.
Russia is concealing the real consequences of natural forest fires: the destroyed areas are several times larger than the data published by Russian agencies. This was reported by the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine, writes UNN.
Details
According to the Foreign Intelligence Service, in the first six months of 2025 alone, fires covered about 9.5 million hectares of forest, while Russia officially recognizes only 2.7 million hectares. Thus, the enormous scale of the disaster is systematically hushed up.
The Russian "Avialesookhrana" (Aerial Forest Protection Service) extinguished 17 forest fires in the last three days alone, and 34 in a week, which is equivalent in area to the city of Volokolamsk in the Moscow region. And this is only a small fragment of the overall picture.
The official statistics do not include: agricultural lands – about 4 million hectares annually, and lands controlled by the Russian Ministry of Defense, where fires regularly break out during exercises.
Thus, in April 2025, a fire at the "Krasny Yar" training ground near Chita grew for 20 days and threatened settlements, but data on it were not included in federal reports.
An additional risk factor is the chronic shortage of firefighters: in 2024, the services were understaffed by almost a quarter. In the regions, forest tenants who do not participate in extinguishing fires are already being threatened with license revocation, and significantly increased fines for arson are being proposed.
Ukrainian intelligence emphasizes: burned forest areas are effectively turning into "dead lands" from which nature recovers for decades. At the same time, instead of investing in environmental protection, the Kremlin continues to direct resources to the war against Ukraine, leaving its own forests, fields, and villages in flames.
Heat and air pollution have killed millions worldwide - study29.10.25, 10:52 • 3437 views