The Georgian Interior Ministry has explained its initiative of adjustments to the Criminal Code regarding prosecution of Georgian citizens who join illegal armed units abroad.

The law will not apply to Georgian citizens fighting for Kyiv, Deputy Interior Minister Levan Izoria told reporters on Sunday.

Criminal liabilities will be faced by only those Georgians who are fighting for illegal armed units, he added.

Georgian Criminal Code has had an article against involvement in international terrorist activity but it is often difficult to identify an armed unit as a classic terrorist organization under the modern circumstances in Syria and Iraq, Izoria said.

Hence, from now on membership in any illegal armed unit operating in a foreign country will be punishable by law, he said.

"All citizens of Georgia who join illegal armed units outside the country or aspire to be trained by such units or attempt to recruit new members of such units will be imprisoned for five to ten years," he said.

The Georgian media reported one Georgian citizen killed and another three wounded in the battle for the Donetsk airport on Sunday.

The media said the information had yet to be formally confirmed.

The Georgians were fighting for a Ukrainian army battalion stationed in the Donetsk airport area, the media said.

There have been reports of Georgian fatalities in eastern Ukraine before. The media said earlier that several dozen Georgians might have been fighting for the Ukrainian army.