Russian firefighters, along with military personnel and volunteers, were battling a massive forest fire that engulfed large parts of the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine’s Luhansk region on Thursday, local reports said.

The fires were sparked days earlier by bad weather and dry conditions.

The situation was most dire in the Stanichno-Luhansky district, where the fires have engulfed more than 2,000 hectares and damaged 161 residential buildings, the Russian Emergencies Ministry said.