Two Russian tankers sank on Sunday December 15 during a storm in the Kerch Strait, which separates Crimea annexed by Moscow and Russia. The incident caused the death of at least one sailor and a fuel leak into the Black Sea, Russian authorities announced. kyiv is sounding the alarm over the threat of a new environmental catastrophe, while the marine ecosystem is already seriously impacted by the war.
With our correspondent in kyiv, Emmanuelle Chaze
Images of two Russian oil tankers sinking, broken and sinking in the Black Sea were widely circulated on Sunday in Ukraine and in Russia. The leak of more than 4,300 tonnes of fuel oil, a derivative of crude oil, created black sheets of pollution, as rescuers tried to assist the crews.
“Due to a storm in the Black Sea, two tankers, the Volgoneft-212 and the Volgoneft-239, suffered an accident,” said the Russian Federal Agency for River and Maritime Transport (Rosmorretchflot). On Telegram, she adds that this double grounding led to “a spill of petroleum products” and that two tugboats and two helicopters were sent as part of a rescue operation.
kyiv accuses Moscow of irresponsibility by allowing the navigation of these tankers in the middle of a storm while a new environmental threat is emerging in the region.
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