You're reading: Weather Center: Polluted air masses moving over Ukraine

Air masses carrying dust and smoke have been seen in a number of Ukrainian regions, but the exact cause of these phenomena currently remains unknown, the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center has reported.

"The meteorological station is recording mist, i.e. a certain worsening in the transparency of the atmosphere. In Chernihiv region, some weather stations are recording only smoke, but the reason for this might not necessarily be [smoke coming from Russia due to forest fires]," a center representative told Interfax-Ukraine on Monday.

He gave no reasons for the phenomenon, but said that it was not smog.

"It’s not smog, because smog is an accumulation of pollutants locally, in the air, when there is no movement of the atmosphere, etc. Now the situation is different, so it’s not smog in the traditional sense," he said.

"This is the movement of polluted air onto Ukrainian territory," he said.

A person on duty at the Ukrainian Emergencies Ministry earlier told Interfax-Ukraine that the smoke seen in some districts in Kyiv had been caused, according to preliminary reports, by fires in Russia.

"According to initial information, the smoke is coming from Russia. A northerly wind blew from Russia at night, and as a result the whole of Chernihiv region is also covered in smoke," he said.

The press service of the Ukrainian Emergencies Ministry’s office in Kyiv region told the agency that some 0.7 hectares of peat bogs were on fire in Kyiv region,

"In Kyiv region, peat bogs are burning in Ivankiv district and in the village of Leonivka. No other forest or peat fires have been discovered," the press service said.