Damaged Russian ships spilled an estimated 3,700 tons of oil in Kerch Strait, state media says

By The Associated Press

This photo taken from a video released by the Russian Southern Transport Prosecutor's Office, shows a Volgoneft-212 tanker wrecked by a storm in the Kerch Strait, Russia, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. (The Russian Southern Transport Prosecutor's Office via AP)[ASSOCIATED PRESS]

MOSCOW (AP) — An estimated 3,700 tons of low-grade fuel oil had spilled into the Kerch Strait after two Russian ships were seriously damaged by stormy weather, Russian state media reported Monday.

The two ships, the Volgoneft 239 and the Volgoneft 212, were transporting roughly 9,200 tons of mazut, a heavy, low-quality oil product. Social media footage from the scene showed a black liquid rising among the waves.

Preliminary estimates say that 3,700 tons of mazut leaked into the sea, Russian state news outlet RIA Novosti reported, citing an unnamed source. In a statement, the leader of Russia’s nearby Krasnodar region, Gov. Veniamin Kondratev, said that the oil had not yet reached the shore.

An emergency rescue operation was launched Sunday after the Volgoneft-212 tanker ran aground and had its bow torn away in storm conditions, Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said. One sailor in the 13-man crew died, officials said.

A second tanker, the Volgoneft-239, was also left damaged and adrift with 14 crewmembers on board. It later ran aground 80 meters from shore, close to the port of Taman in Russia’s Krasnodar region, from where the sailors were later rescued.

Russian officials confirmed the oil spill Sunday, but said that experts were still working to assess its full impact and extent.

In a statement, Greenpeace Ukraine said they will monitor the situation. The charity has had no presence in Russia since 2023, when it was designated as an “undesirable organization” by the Russian government.

“Any oil or petrochemical spill in these waters has the potential to be serious,” said Dr. Paul Johnston, head of Greenpeace Research Laboratories, based at the University of Exeter in the U.K.)

“It is likely to be driven by prevailing wind and currents and in the current weather conditions (it) is likely to be extremely difficult to contain. If it is driven ashore, then it will cause fouling of the shoreline which will be extremely difficult to clean up.”

The Kerch Strait separates the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula from Russia and is an important global shipping route, providing passage from the Sea of Azov to the Black Sea.

It has also been a key point of conflict between Russia and Ukraine after Moscow annexed the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014. In 2016, Ukraine took Moscow to the Permanent Court of Arbitration, where it accused Russia of trying to seize control of the area illegally. In 2021, Russia closed the strait for several months.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to the head of the office of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, described the oil spill as a “large-scale environmental disaster” of the war and called for additional sanctions on Russian tankers.

“The accidents on two rusty vessels in the Kerch Strait resulted in another large-scale environmental disaster of our war. Thousands of tons of fuel oil spilled from the Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239, causing tragic damage to the natural systems of the Azov and Black Seas,” he wrote in a post on X Monday.