The occupying authorities of the Kherson region stated that as a result of fires on the territory of the biosphere reserve “Askania-Nova” more than 3100 hectares of protected steppe have been destroyed. In addition, a further 570 hectares burned out on the territory of the zakaznik “Askaniysky”.
This was reported by Russia-controlled media citing the occupiers’ appointed director of the reserve, Dmytro Meshcheryakov.
According to him, fires on the territory of the reserve occur almost daily. At the same time, he claims that in recent days the scale of the blazes has allegedly decreased.
At the same time, the lawful management of the biosphere reserve earlier confirmed the fires that occurred on June 24 and 29, referring to satellite monitoring data.
It was also reported that overall for the period from June 24 to July 6 the area of burn sites reached 2724.2 hectares, which is about 25% of the entire area of the protected steppe.