More than 12,000 homes in the Urals, Volga and Western Siberia regions have already been flooded. The worst could possibly be yet to come: the snow is melting due to high temperatures and there is also heavy rainfall.
The city of Orenburg has already reported its highest water level in more than 80 years. In the city of Orsk on the Ural River, dams also burst last week as a result of record flooding. Russia is apparently preparing for the disaster using unusual methods. As a video circulating on social media shows, priests were flying in a helicopter over the affected region to pray for an end to the rain. The information could not be independently verified and it was not clear from the contributions who gave the alleged order for the priests to fly over the region. The video circulating online was also shared by Ukrainian Interior Ministry advisor Anton Gerashchenko on the X platform. “You don't have to spend money on the Russian people: just hire a few priests and then spend all theMoney on the war with Ukraine,” the consultant writes about the background.