The ecological catastrophe began December 15, when two Russian oil tankers, the Volgoneft-212 and the Volgoneft-239, sank during a storm in the Kerch Strait.

In southwestern Russia, thousands of volunteers are cleaning up the beaches polluted by the sinking of two oil tankers in the Black Sea on December 15, 2024. But scientists and NGOs consider the resources and equipment deployed to be insufficient.

Russia declared a regional state of emergency on Saturday in Crimea, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014, as workers cleared tons of contaminated sand and earth on either side of the Kerch Strait following an oil spill in the Black Sea last month.

Russia continues to suffer military defeats in the strategically vital Black Sea, one of Moscow's most crucial avenues for political and economic influence into the Mediterranean and beyond. Newsweek has contacted the Russian Ministry of Defense for comment.

As of 06:00 a.m. on January 7, russia keeps one ship on combat duty in the Black Sea - a carrier of Kalibr cruise missiles, not equipped with

Russian investigators have determined that an oil spill from two tankers in the Black Sea last month was smaller than initially thought, the Transport Ministry said on Thursday.

Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) have observed that Ukraine's enhanced offensive capabilities in the Black Sea, highlighted by the destruction of two Russian helicopters in Crimea,