African swine fever (ASF), a viral disease harmless to people but lethal to pigs, has been found in Ukraine, the State Sanitary and Epidemiological Service said on Wednesday.

"Animal deaths from the disease were recorded in a private farm in the southern Zaporozhe region," the service said in a report.

Perhaps Russians, who spent their holidays in Ukraine, delivered the ASF with food of animal origin, the report said.

Local authorities have tightened checks and quarantine procedures in Zaporozhe to minimize the risk of an ASF epidemic, for which there is currently no vaccine, it said.

The disease was introduced into Georgia from southern Africa in 2006 before it spread across Russia.