russian missiles in Poland. Forest Fires in Europe. Spanish government. European countries

Pro-russian media are spreading claims that the scale of forest fires in France and Spain is allegedly caused by EU sanctions against russia: "Due to 'Russophobia,' Europe has deprived itself of russian firefighting equipment (Ka-32 helicopters and Be-200 amphibious aircraft) and is therefore unable to cope with the fires." In reality, the cause of the disaster is record heat and drought, as well as neglected forestry management.

Propagandists write that "European countries, due to sanctions and hostility toward russia, have deprived themselves of access to russian firefighting aircraft and helicopters: they cannot purchase, service, or fly them. As a result, forest fires this year have reached catastrophic proportions. The EU 'places Russophobia above its own forests and even fellow citizens.'" The same message is pushed almost word-for-word by French eurosceptic Florian Philippot, leader of The Patriots party, accusing Brussels of "stupid Russophobic ideology." 
However, this is pure manipulation aimed at linking sanctions to the fires and instilling a sense among European audiences that sanctions are costing them lives and property. The real cause of the 2026 fires is record heat and drought. According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, June 2026 became the hottest on record in Western Europe. The international group World Weather Attribution called the June heatwave the most severe ever recorded in the studied region. These are the consequences of climate change experienced by our planet. Dried soils and vegetation become easy fuel for fires.  
The scale of the disaster is indeed unprecedented. In the French department of Gironde, 220,000 people were evacuated, with over 30,000 more in neighboring Landes; the fire in Gironde alone destroyed 42,000 hectares, becoming one of the largest by area destroyed in France since World War II. In Spain, a fire in the mountainous area of Ávila, west of Madrid, became the largest in the country's history—50,000 hectares—and together with a second fire northwest of the capital, the area of scorched land near Madrid reached 70,000 hectares. In total, the Spanish government reported 172,000 hectares of forest land destroyed this year—six times more than last year. According to an EU Commission representative, the fire advanced at a speed of about 6.5 km/h, whereas firefighters are capable of responding to fire moving no faster than 300 meters per hour.  
Spanish experts interviewed by Infobae cite the climate crisis, rural depopulation, and the state of forestry management as the primary causes—sanctions are not on this list. Researcher Cristina Santín from the Joint Biodiversity Research Institute (CSIC – University of Oviedo) explained the mechanism of this year's disaster: "A very wet winter produced abundant vegetation, after which a relatively dry spring and a very dry June quickly removed residual moisture, and three intense heatwaves that have already passed this summer facilitated the spread of the fire." The key thesis of the Infobae article is that no matter how high-quality the prevention is, the risk of large fires is constantly growing: vegetation increases due to the decline of traditional rural management and climate change.  
In France, natural and agricultural factors also affected the rate of fire spread. According to World Weather Attribution, in Landes de Gascogne, where the fires began, over 800,000 hectares are occupied by artificially planted dense monocultures of maritime pine. Such a forest burns particularly easily, as flames quickly move from the ground to the canopies and then spread across the treetops.  
Extinguishing efforts are hindered by two groups of reasons, neither of which has anything to do with russia. The first is the sheer scale. Dozens of fires burn simultaneously, scattering resources, so firefighters and military personnel are working at the limit of their capabilities without having time to contain the fire before a new heatwave arrives. The second is structural problems accumulated over decades: neglected forestry, fuel biomass accumulation, rural depopulation, and aging national air fleets. In fires of such scale, Spanish experts openly admit that the goal is no longer to extinguish everything, but to protect populated areas and build control lines.  
The state of both countries' air fleets is a separate aspect. There is also a shortage of aircraft there, but for reasons unrelated to russia. In May 2026, Spain announced the largest deployment of state forces in history—56 aerial assets. But just two months later, at the worst moment of the season, three out of ten heavy water bombers were inoperative due to wear and tear, and the contract for modernizing the remaining amphibians, concluded in 2022, remained blocked for four years due to a simple lack of technical documentation—which, as La Repubblica notes, russia has nothing to do with. The picture in France is similar: of the twelve Canadair aircraft at the height of the fires, only five were operational due to incomplete maintenance and spare part delivery delays. Paris ordered two new Canadair aircraft in June 2026 to bring the fleet to sixteen machines, but receiving them before a few years is impossible—the manufacturing capacity of the Canadian supplier is limited. However, it is crucial to emphasize: aviation is decisive only in the first hours, before the ignition grows into a major fire. Sixth-generation fires, which create their own weather patterns, are not extinguished by aviation at all, and even the most modern fleet will not compensate for thousands of hectares of neglected forest.  
The disinformation campaign is built around the fact that Spain has russian Ka-32 helicopters sitting idle due to sanctions. This is a true statement: since 2022, spare part deliveries were interrupted, and in February 2024, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) revoked the certificate allowing these machines to fly in the EU—after other Kamov models were used in the war against Ukraine. However, russian propaganda conceals three important circumstances: 1) these are 8 aircraft out of approximately 56 aerial assets deployed by the state in the firefighting campaign; 2) the Spanish government has still not submitted an official request to Brussels for an exemption, although EU legislation permits requesting such authorizations for reasons of public interest or strategic security; 3) there is no expert assessment on how these 8 Ka-32 units would have impacted the neutralization of the fires.  
A separate layer of manipulation is the claim about the "irreplaceability" of russian equipment. Propaganda backs this up with a reference to the Spanish Ministry of Environment itself, which allegedly admitted that the Ka-32 has "no replacement" on the market. In reality, the wording in the justification of the government contract is narrower: there are no helicopters with an equivalent price-to-capability ratio. Aircraft with similar or greater payload capacity exist and operate around the world, for example, the American Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane, which carries about 10,000 liters compared to 4,500 in the Ka-32. Such helicopters were purchased by the forestry services of Italy and South Korea. The Spanish defense publication Revista Ejércitos, examining options to replace the Ka-32, counted at least six American heavy firefighting helicopter operators whose services states regularly use during summer campaigns.  
Even more telling is the story with the Be-200 amphibious aircraft, about which propaganda writes that it has a fleet of such machines that Europe refuses to operate due to "Russophobia." However, the disinformation intentionally omits the condition of this "fleet." The engines for the Be-200 were developed and produced by the Ukrainian enterprise 'Ivchenko-Progress' together with Zaporizhzhia's 'Motor Sich'. Their supply stopped back in 2014, after the annexation of Crimea. Production of the remaining aircraft halted after Ukrainian retaliatory strikes in March 2024. Thus, "unique" russian firefighting aviation has not been produced for several years—precisely because of the war russia unleashed against the country that made its engines. 
This manipulation is built on a recognizable scheme: first, they present a truthful detail, and then derive generalizations and assumptions from it, presenting them as fact. 
Poland Officially Confirmed: A russian Kh-101 Missile Flew Into Its Airspace.
This was reported by Deputy Minister of National Defence of Poland Cezary Tomczyk. According to him, during a massive russian attack on July 30, about 20 russian missiles flew toward the Polish border. Most of them were intercepted by Ukrainian air defense. One missile, which subsequently flew into Poland, was pursued to the border itself by a Ukrainian fighter jet. However, about 20 seconds before crossing the border, the pilot was forced to abandon the pursuit, as they did not have authorization to enter Polish airspace without appropriate permission.  
A Wave of Disinformation Against Ukraine Recorded in Poland Following the Fall of the russian Missile.
The Polish Research and Academic Computer Network (NASK) reported two main disinformation narratives: https://www.pap.pl/aktualnosci/nask-w-sieci-kraza-dwa-dezinformujace-watki-dot-naruszenia-polskiej-przestrzeni The first attempts to place responsibility on Ukraine, linking the incident to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's visit to Lublin. russian propaganda calls this incident a "Ukrainian provocation" or an attempt to drag Poland into the war.  
The second narrative accuses the Polish authorities of allegedly intentionally intimidating the population and manipulating through threat notifications. 
Based on materials from Stopfake.org, Spravdi.ua
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