Russia sent an IL-76 to Serbia to fight forest fires.
Serbian authorities have once again asked Russia's leadership for help in extinguishing the more than ten forest fires raging across the country.
In response to this request, on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin, an Il-76 aircraft with a crew and a task force from the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations was dispatched to extinguish the wildfires, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
The Russian aircraft has reportedly already arrived in Serbia. It is a specialized firefighting version of the renowned Russian heavy transport aircraft, equipped with internal tanks for water or firefighting solution with a capacity of up to 42 tons, which it can quickly drop on large forest fires.
More than a dozen fires are still raging in Serbia, with the most dangerous ones being Mount Stolovi pod Kraljevo and Deliblatska peščara, as well as an 800-hectare fire in the area of Velesnica, Podvrška, and Velika Kamenica.
According to Davor Vidović, Deputy Head of the Fire and Rescue Department of the Emergency Situations Sector, on August 17 alone, a total of 201 emergency response missions were recorded, 146 of which were related to open-air fires, resulting in one fatality.
Meanwhile, the area of forest fires in Russia's Krasnoyarsk Krai increased by 7,000 hectares in the past 24 hours, reaching 282,100 hectares. This growth has continued for the second day in a row. As of the morning of Wednesday, August 19, 93 fires have been recorded in the region. The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations has not yet deployed Il-76s to fight these fires.
Russia sent an IL-76 to Serbia to fight forest fires.