The Russian government has called in the military to help beleaguered firefighters battling to contain wildfires in the country that have killed more than 20 people and left over 2000 homeless.

The fires are burning in the central region of the country called Volga and has already gutted several villages. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited one such village called Verkhnyaya Vereya where 341 houses had been burnt to the ground.

The prime minister promised newly homeless residents that they would not be forgotten and that compensation and rebuilding would be swiftly carried out.

“All the houses will be built by winter. I promise to you that the village will be restored,” said Putin at a press conference.

The government has already set aside 25 billion rubles for the rebuilding effort of various destroyed villages.

Russia has been experiencing a heat wave and a severe drought that is estimated to have destroyed a fifth of the country’s wheat crops.

There have been accusations that fire fighting efforts have been unfairly concentrated on the capital, Moscow, at the expense of smaller towns like Verkhnyaya Vereya.