In Transbaikalia, almost 3 million hectares of forest have been burned since the beginning of the year.

The area of fires in the Trans-Baikal Territory has amounted to 2.7 million hectares since the beginning of the fire season in 2025. Almost 90% of fires are caused by humans, Acting Minister of Natural Resources of the region Pavel Volzhin said during a press conference on Friday, July 4.

"Deliberate arson, burning of dry grass and farmland, which are not controlled in any way. 80% of the logs go into the forest and turn into a forest fire," the official explained, quoted by ChitaMedia news agency.

According to Volzhin, dry thunderstorms may be the cause of the fire in July, and they will continue until the coldest weather. About 12% of fires today have been caused by this particular natural phenomenon.

The forest may also catch fire due to linear objects such as railways or wire crossings, the acting minister added. These causes cause about 2% of fires.

In total, 694 forest fires with a total area of 2 million 781 thousand hectares have been recorded in Transbaikalia since the beginning of the fire season. 689 fires have been eliminated on an area of 2 million 780 thousand hectares. During the same period a year earlier, 705 fires were detected on an area of 1,252 thousand hectares.

At the end of June, Roscosmos published a satellite image of fires in Transbaikalia. The footage was taken from the Meteor-M satellite.