MOSCOW, August 20. /TASS/. On its first day of operations in Serbia, a Russian Emergencies Ministry’s Il-76 aircraft made five sorties and dropped ten loads of water on active fire sites, the ministry’s press service told TASS.

"The Russian Emergencies Ministry’s Il-76 aircraft made five sorties and ten water drops on its first day of operations in Serbia. A total of 210 metric tons of water were dropped on the hotspots," the statement said.

According to the ministry's satellite monitoring data, 22 hotspots have been registered in the country, and fire hotspots have been identified in the immediate vicinity of settlements. Currently, the fire is spreading along the borders of the villages of Susara, Grebenac, and Kajtasovo. Local residents are being evacuated.

According to the Emergencies Ministry, Russian rescue teams are working closely with Serbian ground services and receiving organizational support from the Russian-Serbian Humanitarian Center. "The Russian Emergencies Ministry’s operational group continues to work in Serbia, coordinating with Serbian colleagues and implementing a set of measures to contain and extinguish the fires. Specialists are doing everything possible to prevent the fire from spreading to residential buildings and to minimize the threat to civilians," the ministry emphasized.

The Russian Emergencies Ministry dispatched an aircraft to Serbia at the request of President Vladimir Putin.