Satellite images showed huge fires in the city of Sarov near the Russian Federal Nuclear Center, which is one of Russia's most secret nuclear sites.
According to satellite images captured on August 8, the fires are less than 13 kilometers from the nuclear site.
According to city officials, the level of danger has been raised to facilitate the mobilization of more forces to control the fires in the area.
Satellite images show forest fires approaching the Russian nuclear site (agencies)
In the same context, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered - today, Tuesday - to send reinforcements to combat forest fires raging in Siberia.
Wildfires have been ravaging Siberia with increasing intensity in recent years, something that weather officials and environmental experts in Russia have linked to climate change and underfunded forest management agencies.
Putin ordered the Russian Emergencies Ministry to "increase the fire-fighting group" and "intensify aviation work" in Yakutia, one of the worst-affected regions of Siberia.
Today, the branch of the Ministry of Emergencies in Yakutia reported that more than 4,200 people are currently battling fires.
He added that more than 9,500 tons of water were thrown at the fires from the air.
Aerial photograph showing forest fires in the Gorny Ulus region of the Republic of Yakutia in Siberia (French)
But the Russian Meteorological Institute "Rosgedromet" indicated that the situation in Yakutia - the largest and coldest region in Russia - is still one of the "difficult" in the country.
vast areas
The fires in the vast and sparsely populated area - which is 5 times the size of France - covered 8.7 million hectares, according to the Russian Forestry Agency.
The total area burned is fast approaching the annual average since 2000 of 8.9 million hectares nationwide.
During a visit to Yakutia last July, local firefighters reported that they were short of people, equipment and resources to deal with fires of this magnitude.
Some point to a 2015 law that allows regions to ignore fires if the cost of fighting them exceeds the expected damage, noting that it provides the authorities with a cover that allows them to avoid fighting forest fires.
And the United Nations published a report - yesterday, Monday - which showed that global warming is happening at a faster pace than expected, blaming all of humanity for responsibility.
And the US space agency "NASA" (NASA) reported at the end of the week that its satellite images showed that smoke rising from forest fires in Yakutia is heading towards the North Pole, in an event it described as unprecedented.