Long stretches of Russia’s Black Sea coastline are covered in oil spilled by the wreck of two Russian tankers over the weekend, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warning of an “environmental disaster”. Videos geolocated by CNN show blackened waves washing the low-quality heavy fuel oil – known as mazut – onto shores in Russia’s Krasnodar region, near the Kerch Strait between mainland Russian and occupied Crimea. In one video, a bird – its wings thick with oil – is seen squawking in distress as it sits in the sand and is buffeted by waves, unable to lift its wings to fly away. The oil spill has impacted at least 60 kilometers of coastline, Greenpeace Ukraine said Tuesday. “Several towns have declared an emergency situation. The death of birds contaminated with mazut has been recorded,” it said.

The two tankers – the Volgoneft 212 and Volgoneft 239 – were carrying thousands of tons of fuel in the Kerch Strait when they got into peril on Sunday, with winds reaching up to 70 kph (45 mph). A video earlier this week showed the wreck of the Volgoneft 212 washed ashore about 10 kilometers (6 miles) south from the start of the Kerch Bridge in Russia. Zelensky slammed Moscow for sending out “old, poorly maintained” vessels into stormy conditions. “These ships were nearly 50 years old. They shouldn’t have been in operation at all, especially in this part of the waters and during this season. Right now, our sea is facing yet another environmental disaster caused by Russia,” Zelensky said Tuesday.  (CNN)

Photo: A damaged Russian oil tanker is seen in the Kerch Strait on Russia’s Black Sea coastline.