There's not much independent news coming out of Russia, and the Moscow Times itself was recently banned in Russia.

But I've been noticing intense wildfire activity in Siberia through the Nullschool Earth Weather Visualiser, e.g.:

Particulates (PM1) <https://earth.nullschool.net/#2024/07/15/0000Z/particulates/...>

CO (rapidly-attenuating signal of combustion): <https://earth.nullschool.net/#2024/07/15/0000Z/chem/surface/...>

NO2 (more slowly-attenuating combustion signal): <https://earth.nullschool.net/#2024/07/15/0000Z/chem/surface/...>

Moscow Times confirms my suspicions.

Canada's also seeing major wildfires, largely in British Columbia:

Article: "Hundreds on evacuation alert as new wildfires sparked across B.C." <https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/district-of-...> (Jul 11, 2024)

Particulates: <https://earth.nullschool.net/#2024/07/16/2300Z/particulates/...>

(All Nullschool views have fire signatures enabled in addition to the noted channel.)