Russian tanker accident in Kerch Strait: experts from Netherlands, Japan to investigate oil spill impact

Viktor Komorin, the acting director of the research institution Ukrainian Scientific Center for Marine Ecology, stated this, Ukrinform reports.

According to him, experts from Japan, the Netherlands, and Ukraine will form a model that will help create long-term forecasts regarding the fuel oil in the sea.

“We will understand how much fuel oil has entered the northwestern part of the Black Sea, how much is on the seabed, how much is on the coastline, and how the petroleum product will affect the ecosystem in the future,” Komorin noted.

He pointed out that currently, fuel oil continues to leak from Russian tankers, spreading through the Black and Azov Seas. Eventually, it may reach Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey.

At the same time, according to the Deputy Head of USPA Maksym Lapai, as of January 30, there was no information about petroleum pollution in the waters of seaports. However, the institution’s management is ready to eliminate the pollution.

Two Russian oil tankers sink in the Black Sea, spilling tons of fuel

On December 15, 2024, two Russian tankers, Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239, which were carrying fuel oil, broke in half in the Kerch Strait.

After the accident, several dead dolphins were washed ashore. Videos of polluted beaches are circulating online.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is doing nothing to prevent the disaster in the Kerch Strait.

The Russian authorities must acknowledge that they downplayed the scale of the environmental disaster caused by the tanker accident in the Kerch Strait, according to the Center for Countering Disinformation.

Later, it was reported that the Russian authorities ordered the sunken Volgoneft tankers in the Kerch Strait to be raised by June 16, 2025.

On December 25, 2024, due to the fuel oil spill, a regional emergency regime was introduced in Krasnodar Krai. The next day, a federal emergency regime was declared in the region.

A few days later, the so-called authorities of the Russian-occupied Crimea introduced a regional emergency regime due to the fuel oil spill in the Black Sea. Later, the pollution reached Koktebel.

On January 4, the “governor” of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhaev, reported that fuel oil spills caused by the Russian tanker accident were discovered on several beaches. A state of emergency was declared in the city.