Russia is facing a “difficult situation” due to forest fires amid “abnormal” heat, especially in the Moscow region, with the Russian capital periodically suffering from smoke, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday, AFP reported.

“Due to harsh weather conditions, the situation in a number of regions of the European part of the country is difficult,” Putin said during a video conference with regional officials on the subject of forest fires.

“These are mainly forest fires in the Reazan region,” located about 250 kilometers east of Moscow, he said.

According to local emergency services, forest fires have ravaged more than 11,700 hectares in Reazan region amid daytime temperatures exceeding 31°C, accompanied by wind gusts of 10 meters per second.

More than 9,500 firefighters and rescuers, as well as eight specialized planes and seven helicopters, were sent to the scene to extinguish the fire, said the acting governor of the region, Pavlo Malkov.

“This is a very difficult test,” he complained, stressing that “there is no precipitation and we do not expect it in the near future.”

Nevertheless, Malkov expressed confidence that the fire “will be brought under control in two or three days and completely extinguished within one or two weeks.”

Last week, smoke from fires that raged for several days engulfed part of Moscow. On Monday, smoke and the smell of burning were present in several neighborhoods of the capital.

Moscow City Hall responded by sending 8,500 people to the Reazan region to fight the fire in support of the thousands of local firefighters and rescuers who had already been mobilized.

“Smoke periodically covers Moscow, but today the situation is becoming a little more controlled,” the mayor of the Russian capital Serhiy Sobyanin told Putin.