Fuel from damaged Russian vessels has reached Crimea, polluting the shores and causing harm to local bird populations.

A new oil product spill has been discovered in Crimea – in the village of Yakovenkove on the Kerch Peninsula, 3,000 meters of the coastline have been contaminated, reports the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia.

More than 50 personnel and 7 pieces of equipment are currently working on-site, it has been stated.

Since the start of operations, the emergency services and volunteers have removed 77,928 tons of contaminated sand and soil from the beach. The situation is being monitored using satellite surveillance and ground patrols.

In addition, for the first time, a patch of fuel oil has been detected in Sevastopol, as reported by the so-called mayor of the city, appointed by Russia, Mikhail Razvozhaev. In his Telegram channel, he wrote that on January 3, a small fuel oil patch measuring 1.5×1.5 meters was found at the entrance to Balaklava Bay.

"Isolated cases of birds being found in fuel oil have also been recorded in the vicinity of Uchkuivka, Laspi, and Omega Bay," he noted.

The Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia reports that overall, department staff and volunteers have managed to rescue over 2,500 birds. Specifically, in the Krasnodar region alone, volunteers saved more than 2,000 birds.

"The situation is critical: birds in fuel oil are suffocating, remaining in boxes without assistance. There is enough work for everyone, throughout the night and into tomorrow," the volunteers write.

According to experts, the survival rate of birds after being cleaned of fuel oil is about 10%, and in some cases, it is no more than 1.5%. Most die from poisoning by oil products.

Comment from ecologist from Odesa Vladyslav Balinsky regarding the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia's statement about the so-called rescue of birds:

"The term 'rescue' in such cases in global practice implies not just washing off oil products, but a comprehensive set of measures aimed at cleaning and fully restoring the affected wildlife. This includes treating animals for burns, intoxication, and stress, adapting them, and successfully returning them to their natural habitat. There are also options for transferring them for long-term treatment and care in specialized institutions, but this only complicates the subsequent process of returning them to nature. Simple logic suggests that even if the birds miraculously remain healthy and unharmed after assistance and are returned to the wild, they will find themselves in fuel oil again (they have no other home). I am almost certain that most of the 'rescued' birds will also die or have already died. Unfortunately."

The tankers "Volgoneft-239" and "Volgoneft-212," which were carrying about 9 tons of fuel oil, sank in the Kerch Strait on December 15, resulting in an oil spill. Approximately 70 km of the Black Sea coastline has been contaminated by oil products. On December 26, a government commission from Russia decided to declare a federal-level emergency situation.

Background. Recall that an ecologist explained why two Russian ships carrying oil broke apart in the Kerch Strait – the cause was work negligence during the reconstruction of the vessels.