Wildfires continue to rage in Russia's Far East

Wildfires have destroyed about 9,000 hectares of taiga in Russia's Far East over the past 24 hours, the local forestry department reported Thursday.

Twenty wildfires were reported in Yakutsk, Magadan, Khabarovsk, and Chukotka regions, it said.

About 500 firefighters, 46 pieces of equipment and six aircraft were mobilized to fight the fires, it said.

The Far East region has witnessed 1,047 forest fires so far this year, far more than the same period last year.

In recent years, relatively hotter summers in the Russian Far East have created prime conditions for wildfires. Endi