A piece of a drone in fuel oil washed up on the coast of Kuban.

A Kuban resident discovered the wreckage of a drone stained with fuel oil on the seashore. An environmentalist reported that an "oil rain" occurred in Tuapse amid a fire at an oil spill terminal. As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," oil spills were recorded on Anapa beaches from April 11th to 16th. The spill sites have been localized, 247 tons of contaminated soil have been collected, and 229 tons have been removed, according to the Kuban emergency response headquarters. In the Tuapse River, where oil products also spilled after the April 16 attack, the spill has been contained, officials reported on April 20. On April 20, an oil spill moving toward Anapa was detected 11 kilometers from the shore. It was treated with a sorbent, and approximately 28 tons of oil-containing mixture were collected from the water surface. Authorities in Kuban reported that the source of the oil spill was presumably a civilian vessel attacked by Ukrainian drones outside Russian territorial waters. Residents of the Krasnodar Territory continue to report oil pollution of the Black Sea and its coastline. Following the attack on the oil refinery in the port of Tuapse, the wreckage of a Ukrainian drone, covered in fuel oil, was found on the shore.

In the video, a man shows off his find on a pebble beach, wiping a layer of fuel oil from an oblong metal object. Under the layer of fuel oil, writing in Ukrainian is visible. "Everything is covered in fuel oil," the man states. Later, the video's author reported that "the Black Sea is currently polluted, with dead seagulls lying on the shore and dolphins dying," and "there's black smoke in the sky," the Telegram channel ASTRA* reported today.

Ecologist Zhora Kavanosyan reported that Tuapse residents are sending him footage of fuel oil stains on pebbles and birds covered in oil products. Amid the fire at the oil terminal, which is in its second day of being extinguished, "an oil rain has fallen in the city," he wrote.

A plume of smoke from the fire at the marine terminal was visible even after the first attack on the facility on April 16, and it persisted by the evening of April 20. “That’s why there was oil rain, which frightened local residents,” explained the Telegram channel of the environmental monitoring project “Transparent World.”

“During a severe fire at an oil facility, not only smoke and soot but also vapors of light petroleum fractions rise into the air. When the air cools, some of these substances settle back down, but in the form of oily droplets and dirty sediment,” the environmentalists’ publication states.

Toxic compounds are found not only in precipitation but also in the atmospheric air, so residents should limit their time outdoors and use a respirator. "This type of rain is also dangerous for nature. It harms both large animals and soil organisms, and when washed away, it can end up in storm drains, rivers, and even the sea," project representatives noted.

Igor Shkradyuk, coordinator of the Industrial Greening Program at the Wildlife Conservation Center, noted that "oil rain" contains highly toxic compounds—benzene and its derivatives, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene. Benzene is a class I carcinogen, the scientist wrote on his Facebook page**.

On December 15, 2024, two tankers carrying fuel oil sank in the Kerch Strait. A crew member of one of the tankers died as a result. In addition, an oil spill occurred, leading to catastrophic environmental consequences, according to the "Caucasian Knot" report "Fuel Oil Spill in the Kerch Strait".

Materials on the consequences of the fuel oil spill have been collected by the "Caucasian Knot" on the page "Eco-disaster in Kuban".

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