Zelensky says Ukraine has offered assistance on California wildfires

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that his country has offered assistance on the California wildfires.

“Today, I instructed Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs and our diplomats to prepare for the possible participation of our rescuers in combating the wildfires in California,” Zelensky said in an address, according to an English transcript on his website.

“The situation there is extremely challenging, and Ukrainians can help Americans protect lives,” he added.

The recent Los Angeles-area wildfires have devastated the region, destroying property en masse and leaving 16 dead. The Palisades Fire was behind five of the deaths, and the Eaton Fire was behind the other 11, according to an update from the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.

“This matter is being worked out, and through appropriate channels, we have offered our assistance to the American side. We already have 150 firefighters prepared,” Zelensky said of the potential help on the fires.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell said in an interview Sunday that the Los Angeles area was “very prepared” for the recent wildfires it has faced, but that it was not ready for “100-mile-an-hour winds.”

“I think that they were very prepared. This is something that they are very used to, they fight fires all the time,” Criswell told CBS News’s Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation.”

“But they have never seen 100-mile-an-hour winds that are fueling the fire, and those winds and that weather condition is what really impacts, you know, where this fire is gonna go, but more importantly, how they’re able to try to contain it in those first few hours and days,” she added.

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