Planes dump water on Siberian wildfires as residents plead for help

A fire truck drives across a forest burnt by wildfire towards to the sattelment of Zapasnoye in Chelyabinsk Region, Russia July 12, 2021. Picture taken with a drone. REUTERS/Alexey Malgavko

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's army sent firefighting planes on Tuesday to battle huge wildfires that have blanketed Siberian towns in thick smoke as residents complain of being suffocated in a region known for its frozen tundra that is now sweltering under a heatwave.

With flames tearing across some 800,000 hectares of Russian forest, the hardest-hit region of Yakutia in the north has been in a state of emergency for weeks as climate scientists sound the alarm about the potential long-term impact.