MOSCOW, August 20. /TASS/. A Russian Emergencies Ministry flight that arrived in Serbia on Wednesday has joined a firefighting operation in a national reserve of the Balkan Republic, an aviation services spokesman told TASS.

"An Il-76 plane of the Russian Emergencies Ministry that landed in the Serbian city of Nis on Wednesday has carried out a firefighting mission in the Deliblato Sands," the spokesman said.

Serbia requested Moscow’s assistance in battling wildfires. The Russian-Serbian humanitarian center is headquartered in Nis. The special Russian flight was greeted by Emergencies Ministry personnel at the Serbian Interior Ministry and local officials.

A fire, Serbia’s most severe, has been raging in the Deliblato Sands national reserve in the country’s northeast since early August. Helicopters as well as Serbian soldiers and specialists from the Russian-Serbian humanitarian center in Nis are taking part in the firefighting effort, which is being hampered by difficult terrain and historically low water levels in the Danube River. The natural reserve has been listed on the official UNESCO Tentative (Preliminary) List.