‘We Do Not Forget Anyone’ – Ukraine at War Update for Dec. 31
Crimean beaches reach emergency-level oil pollution, thanks to sunken Russian tankers
In occupied Crimea, following a number of Russian oil tanker accidents in the Kerch Strait, Moscow’s sources said that 226 tons of soil contaminated with petroleum products have been collected and removed from the coastline, Kyiv’s state-run media Ukriform reported.
Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations in Crimea said that “oil products have been found on the municipal beach of Arshintsevska Spit. A total of 861 kilometers of coastline have been inspected, including repeated inspections, with 127 kilometers covered in a single day. Over 226 tons of contaminated sand and soil have been collected and removed, including more than seven tons in the past day.”
According to local activists from Koktebel Bay, Ukrinform said, residents have organized to address the disaster, while Russian occupational authorities in Koktebel and Feodosia are “reportedly not responding adequately,” activists said.
Russian authorities in annexed Crimea have declared a regional-level technological emergency due to massive fuel oil spills in the Black Sea, Ukrinform reported.
The state-run media also wrote that on December 15, two Russian oil tankers, Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239, began sinking near the shore in the Kerch Strait. The accident, state media continued, was caused by a severe storm, which broke one of the tankers nearly in half. Over 4,000 tons of fuel oil spilled into the Black Sea. Some 1,700 tons of oil-contaminated sand were collected from the coastline in Krasnodar Krai, the Kyiv-controlled media outlet reported.
Last week, a sea mine was discovered floating off of Turkey’s Black Sea coast, northeast of İstanbul, Turkish state-run Anadolu news agency reported, saying the device would be destroyed. It was found off the coast of Ağva, a small resort area some 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of the point where the Bosporus Strait meets the Black Sea.
Earlier this month, international ship broker BRS said there are now 850 “grey” vessels operating worldwide, described as as “ageing vessels carrying Russian, Iran, Syrian, North Korean or Venezuelan oil, and operated by companies either under sanction or with little previous experience in shipping.”
International sanctions have cracked down on such illegal trade, and Ukrainian drones and other craft have targeted these Russian “shadow fleet” vessels over the course of the invasion.
Source: John Moretti