Oil Covers Dozens Of Kilometers Of Russia's Coastal Area After Tankers Sink

Dozens of kilometers of Black Sea coastline in Russia's Krasnodar region have been covered in heavy fuel oil, local authorities and residents reported on December 17, after two oil tankers were heavily damaged during a storm in the Kerch Strait.

Regional Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said cleanup crews were being dispatched to the area as high winds helped spread large amounts of spilled oil along the coastline, raising concerns of an impending environmental disaster in the Black Sea.

Social media photos and video showed wildlife covered in dark liquid, the result of the December 15 incident involving two Volgoneft tankers that were carrying thousands of tons of mazut -- low-quality heavy fuel oil.

The vessels reportedly ran aground in the ecologically sensitive waters off Ukraine's Moscow-annexed Crimean coastline. One of the tankers reportedly capsized and split into two during a severe storm. Waves as high as 3-4 meters, considered dangerous for such vessels, are believed to have caused the accident.

Reports of environmental degradation are mounting as more and more oil spreads across the sea and onto shores that are summer havens for families.

Local residents painted a dire picture of the shoreline, noting oil-covered birds that cannot fly and stray dogs covered in fuel oil roaming the shore.

They also noted the strong scent of oil in the air with many residents complaining of nausea and skin and eye irritations.

Almost 300 people, including volunteers and heavy equipment, are working to minimize the consequences of the accident, officials said.

Two municipalities have organized operational headquarters for cleaning. Environmentalists, however, warn that the spill's size may already be too big to handle.

The chairman of the region's maritime trade unions, Leonid Glushak, told the Kedr website that the overwhelming majority of the fuel oil has already seeped into the sea, exacerbating the eco-catastrophe.

According to Glushak, Volgoneft tankers, intended for river voyages, are inadequate for open sea water such as the Kerch Strait.

Moscow has been using a so-called shadow fleet of tankers -- a group of old, uninsured oil vessels -- to bypass Western sanctions imposed over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The poor condition of these ships has raised concerns about environmental disasters.

Authorities have started criminal investigations into the accident, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned could be repeated in other areas of Europe.

"Our sea is facing yet another environmental disaster caused by Russia. But there are even larger and more dangerous Russian tankers operating in your seas. Stopping this fleet is not just about cutting off Russia’s war funding -- it’s about protecting nature," he said in a post on X on December 17.

Russia illegally annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.