Georgian assistance to Ukraine has been exclusively humanitarian, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said.

"We said at the start that our assistance to Ukraine would be purely humanitarian and we kept our word," the prime minister said at a press conference on Friday. He was answering a question whether the hostilities in Ukraine were "Georgia's business."

The prime minister said that Tbilisi had sent humanitarian cargo, including medicines, to Ukraine.

He also said that Georgia had expressed its solidarity with the people of Ukraine exclusively by the delivery of relief aid.

A sniper killed Georgian volunteer Alexander Grigolashvili fighting for the Ukrainian army in eastern Ukraine in the middle of December. The Georgian Defense Ministry offered condolences to his family and placed the responsibility for his death on the former Georgian authorities led by ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili who had urged Georgian military servicemen to fight against the militia in Ukraine.

The statement by the Defense Ministry was criticized by the Georgian public and members of Saakashvili's party demanded that the defense minister resign.

A statement by Garibashvili who described the Defense Ministry's position as wrong and urged Defense Minister Mindia Janelidze to offer public apologies added fuel to the fire.

The Georgian Defense Ministry apologized but Saakashvili's supporters said that was not enough.

The Georgian media said several dozens of Georgian volunteers, former army servicemen, were fighting for the Ukrainian army in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Other reports said Georgians were also fighting for the militia.