Satellite images taken on July 1 show new oil pollution near the wreck of the Volgoneft-239 tanker in the Kerch Strait, according to OSINT project SkyEye, The Insider, and Agentstvo, citing data from Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2.
According to Greenpeace, cited by the BBC, oil product leaks have been occurring regularly since the beginning of July. The images show pollution slicks ranging from 2–3 to 8–10 kilometers in length.
Metal sarcophagi were installed over both sunken tankers — the Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239 — in winter to isolate them and allow for subsequent pumping out of fuel oil. However, SkyEye suggests the leak has resumed. Analysts link this to rising water temperatures in the Black Sea, which may have heated the fuel oil and caused lighter fractions to migrate through gaps in connections, as well as to ongoing oil product pumping operations.
Vladimir Slivyak, co-chair of the Ekozashchita group, told The Insider he considers the water-heating theory debatable. According to him, the tankers lie at a depth of 15–20 meters, and in July the water has not yet warmed enough for fuel oil to begin migrating. He said mechanical damage to the hull or the pumping operations themselves could be the cause. Slivyak added that leaks could intensify and may be occurring constantly — they are simply not always visible in satellite images.
The Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239 tankers sank during a severe storm in December 2024, carrying a combined total of about 9,200 tons of fuel oil. After the spill, tens of kilometers of coastline in the Krasnodar region were contaminated, and all beaches in Anapa were declared unfit for swimming in the summer of 2025. Beaches were reopened to tourists in 2026.