Trump Offered Putin U.S. Help Fighting Wildfires, Kremlin Says

About 3 million hectares are burning in Siberia, agency says
U.S. wildfires haven’t always drawn president’s sympathy

A wildfire seen from an amphibious aircraft in Siberia on July 28.Source: Tass via Getty Images

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By Ilya Arkhipov and Josh Wingrove

July 31, 2019 at 9:36 PM UTC

Updated on

August 1, 2019 at 2:30 AM UTC

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Donald Trump called Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday to offer U.S. help fighting Siberian wildfires, the Kremlin said in a statement.

Putin thanked Trump for the offer but said a group of airplanes had been formed in Siberia to fight the fires, according to a translation of the statement. Putin said that Trump’s call was a signal that “in the future, it will be possible to restore full-format relations between the two countries.”