Ash blankets Russian villages after Shiveluch volcano erupts
ITV News' Mark McQuillan reports on the eruption and consequent ash cloud
One of Russia's most active volcanos has erupted, spewing ash into the sky and covering nearby villages in grey clouds of volcanic dust.
While a volcanic eruption may send alarm bells ringing for most, people in the region have been making snowmen shaped sculptures.
Videos have also surfaced of individuals making snow angel shapes in the ash.
By Emma Burrows, News Editor, ITV News
The Shiveluch volcano erupted just after midnight on Monday evening, throwing a cloud of ash 8km into the air, blanketing villages in the far eastern Russian region of Kamchatka.
The eruption of the volcano triggered the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) to issue a warning, saying: "Ongoing activity could affect international and low-flying aircraft."
Pictures and video show ash falling like snow and blowing over mountains in the Kamchatka region, which is northeast of Japan in the Pacific Ocean, across the Bering Sea from Alaska, in the United States.
KVERT said the ash cloud is currently drifting 430km to the south west of the volcano. Shiveluch is one of Russia's most active volcanoes and although villages nearby have been covered in ash up to 8.5cm deep, the governor of the Kamchatka region said residents do not need to evacuate.
Villagers venture out into the newly ash-filled landscape following the eruption
"We don't need this right now," Vladimir Solodov told Russian state media, adding: "The most acute phase is already over; already now there is visibility.
"The air is bright and clear, there are fewer particles suspended in the air and most of it has already settled on the ground."
The Kamchatka regional government has announced that villagers particularly affected by the ashfall will be offered free medical examinations. On social media, some residents were pictured drawing 'snow-angels' in the ash and building 'ash-men'.
One local is pictured in a video shovelling ash, apparently outside his front door, while a woman says: "This morning there was 6cm and then more fell. There's 10cm of ash and if not 10cm then definitely 7-8cm."
In the video shared on the Kamchatka Media Telegram group, the woman filming the video of the man shovelling ash says: "When I photographed this, the phone told me it was a beach. Let's pretend we have Sochi [a Russian beach resort] here!"
"How I'm going to clean everything I don't know," she adds.
Schools around the eruption site are "closed as a precaution and the roads are shut", according to Igor Mikho, Head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations in the Kamchatka Region.
In a video address shared on Telegram, Mikho also said local residents are being given masks.
"People are being asked not to leave their houses and to close their windows and doors because of the falling dust. Today is the peak of the problem and people need to just wait at home," said Roman Vasilevsky, Deputy Chairman of the Kamchatka government.
Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know.
Lava and steams could also be seen from an eruption on the Bezymianny volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula over the weekend.
On Friday, the Bezymyanny volcano emitted ash up to 10,000 metres (32,808 feet) high. The volcano was assigned danger code red for aviation.
The Kamchatka Peninsula, which extends into the Pacific Ocean about 6,600 kilometres (4,000 miles) east of Moscow, is one of the world's most concentrated area of geothermal activity, with about 30 active volcanoes.
According to Russian state media, a group of scientists arrived in the area of the Klyuchevskaya group of volcanoes, which includes Bezymyanny, to install seismic stations and other research instruments, when heavy ashfall began.
One of the scientists said: "Stones began to pour from the thermal plume, lapels - porous volcanic formations reaching the size of a small fist. It was decided to urgently remove the sleds from the snowmobiles and make an impromptu shelter out of them." Due to the falling rocks, the group were unable to leave for a time.