The oil spill in the Kerch Strait was an environmental disaster that occurred on December 15, 2024, due to the rupture of the hulls of two Russian Volgoneft-class tankers (“Volgoneft-212” and “Volgoneft-239”) in the Kerch Strait as a result of a storm. One person was killed in the shipwrecks. The spill involved M-100 fuel oil, which is nearly as dense as water and heavier, and unlike other petroleum products, it does not float on the surface but sinks to the bottom or floats within the water column. There are no proven technologies in the world for removing it from the water column. Therefore, the primary method of cleanup is collecting it from the shoreline when the oil is washed ashore.

The oil slick reached the shore over a distance of about 35 km, from the village of Veselovka in the Temryuk District to the village of Blagoveshchenskaya near Anapa. Later, the length of the contaminated beaches increased to 50 km. At least 3,000 tons of fuel oil ended up in the sea. The Opuk Nature Reserve and the landscape-recreational park “Cape Takil” are located near the spill site.

By December 24, 210 dead birds had been found due to the oil spill, and by December 22, 10 Azov dolphins were discovered, possibly killed by the oil spill.