Catastrophic Kerch Strait oil spill prompts state of emergency in occupied Crimea

Crimean activists warn that the situation on the occupied peninsula could be even worse than on the Russian side of the Black Sea coast.

According to one of them, the consequences of the oil spill on the Crimean beaches are more dangerous than in the Russian city of Anapa. In the Crimean city of Feodosia, there is a lack of ornithologists and veterinarians who could provide immediate help to the affected animals.

"The local sand is looser, with a high content of shells, its consistency is much softer and more porous than in the Anapa area. The emission of fuel oil here would lead to an environmental disaster," said an anonymous activist from Feodosia. 

"Given the lack of special equipment and qualified personnel, this could put an end to next year's holiday season. Local wildlife will also suffer. Volunteers are already finding birds affected by fuel oil on our beaches".

An estimated 4,300 tons of fuel oil and possibly other oil products are leaking from the two Russian tankers, Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239, which were caught in a storm and sank in the waters of the Kerch Strait, which connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.

The tankers' tracking systems were disabled at the time of the accidents.

On the same day, a Russian floating crane ship, designed to lift heavy loads, was reported to be in distress off the coast of the temporarily occupied Yalta.

On Dec. 17, Ukraine's Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk said that the accidents in the Kerch Strait caused an estimated damage of more than $14 billion to the Black Sea ecosystem.