MELITOPOL, January 17. /TASS/. The Serbs who have joined the volunteer battalion named after Pavel Sudoplatov in the Zaporozhye Region have begun to carry out combat training tasks, the region’s acting governor Yevgeny Balitsky said on Tuesday.

"Serbian volunteers have begun to carry out combat training tasks, including coordination and cohesion as members of the Pavel Sudoplatov battalion," he wrote on his Telegram channel. Balitsky added that the training process was proceeding in conditions close to combat ones. The volunteers are responsible for ensuring the security of the Zaporozhye Region and the city of Melitopol.

Balitsky said that the recruitment of volunteers for the battalion was continuing.

On Monday, Serbia’s Defense Minister Milos Vucevic said the Serbian volunteers would be held accountable before the law for participating in the conflict in Ukraine.

On January 13, Balitsky announced Serb volunteers joined the volunteer battalion named after Pavel Sudoplatov, adding that in their home country, the volunteers served in the military police and were masters of martial arts.

At the end of December, Balitsky said that the Pavel Sudoplatov battalion was already performing a certain number of tasks in the rear, but had not yet been sent to the frontline. In September, he signed a decree on the creation of three volunteer battalions in the Zaporozhye Region: the Sudoplatov battalion, the St. Andrew the First-Called battalion, and the Slavic Guard battalion.