Serbia turns to Russia to help fight wildfires

Serbia has turned to Russia for help in fighting wildfires because of a lack of available planes from the European Union, its interior ministry said.
A Russian Emergencies Ministry IL-76P firefighting plane landed in the southern city of Nis on Wednesday evening and was deployed on Thursday to tackle a wildfire in the Deliblatska Pescara natural protected reserve that has raged for weeks.
Serbia is not a member of the EU but has access to emergency EU help under the bloc’s Civil Protection Mechanism. This summer, Belgrade sent a firefighting helicopter and emergency response team to help Spain combat wildfires under that mechanism, but wildfires across Europe have sapped EU resources.