The environmental consequences due to the leakage of fuel oil following the accident of Russian tankers in the Kerch Strait in late 2024 and the influx of stray animals pose a sanitary threat in the occupied Crimea. In particular, there may be an outbreak of infections.

This was reported by the activist of the civil movement of resistance to the occupation “Yellow Stripe”, writes Social Crimea.

“Fish and birds are dying en masse, toxins are getting into the environment. Stray dogs eat dead animals and can carry diseases,” she said.

According to the participant of the movement, there are “a lot” of homeless animals in Sevastopol, their number continues to grow. At the same time, they are not vaccinated or sterilized.

She added that hospitals lack vaccines for humans to protect themselves from the bite of an infected animal. The nearest city where they can help with this is Krasnodar in Russia, says the activist.

“This is very scary because there can be an outbreak of infections. Relatives in Yalta have the same thing, and even in Evpatoria there is already such a problem,” she noted.

Coordinators of the “Yellow Ribbon” call on the inhabitants of the peninsula to be especially careful in connection with this situation.

“Every bite of an infected animal is a serious risk to the health of residents,” the activists said.

Recall that Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria at the ministerial level agreed on joint steps for cooperation with international institutions regarding the large-scale environmental disaster in the Black Sea. Its cause is fuel oil contamination due to an accident in the Kerch Strait with Russian tankers at the end of 2024.

Earlier, the Minister of Environmental Protection of Ukraine Svitlana Hrynchuk said that as a result of this accident on the southern coast of the occupied Crimea, birds injured and dead from fuel oil are recorded. All countries of the Black Sea region are also concerned about such pollution of the sea.

On December 15, 2024, two Russian ships “Volgoneft 212” and “Volgoneft 239” sank near the Kerch Strait. The accident led to the leakage of more than 4 thousand tons of fuel oil into the sea.