[d] Reports of puddles of oil making landfall between the Crimean Bridge and the town of Anapa began on 17 December, with about 37 miles (60 kilometres) of coastline becoming polluted.

It was later labelled as the "worst ecological disaster of the 21st century" by Viktor Danilov-Danilyan, head of the Water Problems Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and ex-minister of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

[1][4] On 19 April 2017, the Panamanian-registered 3,500 tonne bulk carrier Geroi Arsenala split in two and sank about 19 nautical miles (35 km) south of the Taman Peninsula between the Port of Azov in Rostov Oblast and Turkey while carrying grain in a storm.

As an example, a total of 131 fires were recorded on the Kinburn Peninsula, a protected area for marine and coastal colonies, in 2022, destroying over 5,000 hectares of the park and the nesting places of about 100 bird species.

[8] Following the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam on 6 June 2023, several protected areas were flooded, with freshwater polluted by fuels, lubricants, fertilizers and wastewater from settlements and fields entering the Black Sea.

In some coastal areas, researchers noted acute toxicity in the water, with nitrogen concentrations drastically rising, an indicator of direct sewage pollution.

[14] Databases claim that both ships are controlled by Volgotanker,[15] a company based in Samara which transports oil products in Russia's inland waterways and along the coast of the Black Sea.

[15] iStories reported that, in the months prior to the incident, both ships had been shuttling between Port Kavkaz in the Kerch Strait and oil refinery terminals on the Volga River.

[12] They further reported that, according to the certifications held by both ships, neither were allowed in the Kerch Strait during December, with restrictions in place for travel in November should wind speed and wave height limits be met.

[25][26] The Kyiv Independent reported that in the days prior to the incident and as the storm began, both ships had tried several times to obtain authorisation to offload their cargo at an unnamed nearby port in Crimea.

[10] Similarly, according to a Television News Service report on the day of the incident, waves reached a height of 3.5 metres (11 ft), with wind speeds of about 53 miles per hour (85 km/h).

[20] Volgoneft-109, a Project 550A Volgoneft tanker that was built in 1973 with a capacity of 4,700 summer deadweight,[32] was carrying about 4,000 tonnes of mazut, and was anchored near Port Kavkaz in the Kerch Strait when she broadcast a distress signal early on 17 December.

[37] Dmitry Lisitsyn, an environmentalist who has been designated a foreign agent in Russia, stated that the incident will worsen in summer, where the fuel that remains will release more toxic fumes.

"[35][36] It was later labelled by Viktor Danilov-Danilyan, head of the Water Problems Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and ex-minister of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the "worst ecological disaster of the 21st century".

Putin ordered the government to create a group to coordinate the rescue efforts and attempt to mitigate the ecological effects after meeting with the ministers of Emergency Situations and Natural Resources and Environment, Alexander Kurenkov and Kozlov respectively.

The oil from the ships began drifting towards the coast north west of the Port of Taman, Krasnodar Krai, between the Tuzla Spit and Cape Panagiya,[20][24] though as of that afternoon it had not reached the shoreline.

[50] Sergey Stranichny, a senior marine scientist, stated that satellite monitoring up to 18 December had shown that the cargo of Volgoneft-212 was still leaking, noting that strong winds were spreading it to the east.

[53] By at least the following day, patches of oil were found on the southern coast of Crimea;[54] a federal state of emergency was declared by President Putin, allowing for further resources to be provided by the government.

[15] That day, the Ukrainian Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources announced that an agreement had been signed between Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria to jointly assist each-other in clean-up efforts in anticipation of fuel reaching their coasts.

[69] Krasnodar Krai Minister of Health, Yevgeny Filippov, noted that between 15 December and 15 January, 146 people needed medical attention after working to remove polluted materials, three of which were hospitalised.

[27] Danilov-Danilyan told Moskovsky Komsomolets on 2 February that soil samples collected while cleaning Anapa showed a content of benzopyrene 22.5 times the legal limit.

Pro-Russian Telegram channels stated, without citing sources, that he had volunteered to remove polluted materials from the beach of Anapa and claimed that he had chronic asthma.

[78] Komin's mother, Elena Mamaeva, told Agentstvo on 4 February that the head of the college's law department, Sergey Savenko, had offered help with exams, internships and debt clearances to students 17 and older who volunteered in the clean-up efforts.

[81][83][37] Dmitry Glazov, a research associate at the Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, stated that the incident affected a "critical area" for dolphins in the Black Sea, believing that it could "impact the ecosystem for at least another 10 years, if not longer.

[37] Nina Ostanina, head of the Russian State Duma Committee on Family Affairs, told Parlamentskaya Gazeta that bookings at children's recreation and health retreats in Anapa had dropped over 27% in January 2025 and 40% for that summer.

On 22 December, Delfa Dolphin Rescue and Research Centre reported that some of the bags used to collect sand polluted by oil were swept by the water into the Black Sea after they were left on the shore.

[93] A spokesperson from the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Heorhii Tykhyy, called Putin's concern performative, saying "Only after the scale of the disaster became too obvious to conceal its horrific consequences did Russia begin to show its so-called 'concern.'

"[94] On 24 January, the Ukrainian government called on the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to perform an independent investigation into the handling of the incident by Russian authorities both before and during the clean-up efforts.

The filing with the IMO claimed "[that t]he Russian authorities initially concealed the environmental impact of the incident on the Black Sea region", further stating that the ships involved were sailing in unsuitable weather conditions in "gross violation of the fundamental principles of safety".

[15] According to an investigation by iStories, in the last months of 2024 and January 2025, at least 44 Volgonefts unloaded their cargo at Port Kavkaz, with 11 continuing to sail despite being in conditions their certifications prohibited, at least seven also chose the same route that Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239 took.