03:52, 29 April 2026

Environmentalists compared the scale of oil spills in Tuapse and Anapa.

The scale of oil pollution in the Black Sea near Tuapse following the attacks on the local oil refinery could be more significant than the consequences for Anapa of the oil tanker disaster in the Kerch Strait, according to environmentalists. Evgeny Vitishko believes it is necessary to declare a federal state of emergency in Tuapse.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot," on April 28, residents of nearby houses were evacuated to a temporary accommodation center due to a fire at the Tuapse oil refinery. During the fire, oil products boiled over and spilled from a storage tank onto the road, damaging several cars. there. This is the third attack on the Tuapse oil refinery in the past two weeks; the previous attacks occurred on April 16 and 20. Since April 28, a regional state of emergency has been declared throughout the Tuapse Municipal District.

On April 24, after booms broke due to rising water levels in the Tuapse River, an oil spill occurred into the Black Sea. Authorities declared the spill "local," but the oil spill spread to nearby villages. Fuel oil has spread over a large area, and volunteers are primarily cleaning it up, local residents told the "Caucasian Knot" on April 26. The oil spill that entered the Black Sea following the drone attack in Tuapse is expanding, and the environmental outlook for the coastline is bleak, as are the prospects for the resort season, scientists have noted.

Russian Emergency Situations Minister Alexander Kurenkov, who arrived in Tuapse on the afternoon of April 28, flew a helicopter over the Black Sea and ordered an increase in the number of divers in the area of the oil spill. He also promised that the height of parapets would begin to be raised on the night of April 29 to prevent further spread of the pollution.

Kurenkov also stated that the measures taken to clean up the oil spill in Tuapse were insufficient. Krasnodar Krai Governor Veniamin Kondratyev, in turn, said the spill response team will increase by 300 people starting April 29, Interfax-Yug reports.

At the same time, Alexander Kurenkov asserts that the leak of oil products from the damaged tanks has stopped. "There is currently no leak (of oil products), everything has been stopped. Everything has been extinguished and cut off," the agency quotes him as saying.

Like in Anapa or even worse

Ecologists, assessing the coastal pollution situation in Tuapse, stated that the problem is no less in scale than the disaster in Anapa, where tens of kilometers of coastline were contaminated with fuel oil in December 2024 after the sinking of two tankers in the Kerch Strait.

Details of this environmental disaster are compiled by the "Caucasian Knot" in the reference material "Fuel Oil Spill in the Kerch Strait." It also provides information about the recent oil spills in Tuapse, which resulted from drone attacks on the local oil terminal.

The pollution won't be limited to Tuapse; oil products will be carried by the current to other resort areas tens of kilometers along the coast, believes Veniamin Golubitchenko, a member of the environmental council under the governor of Krasnodar Krai.

“It's about the same as in Anapa. That is, the problem won't last even one year, much less a month. Besides, it's somewhat easier to collect from sand, and oil products penetrate less deeply into the sand if it's not washed away, unless there's stormy weather. But in pebbles and large stones, all these oil products penetrate much deeper, and it's much more difficult to remove them. Therefore, in this case, I think it will last much longer than even in Anapa, maybe (...) Not just one season, but many years, at least seven to ten, I think for sure. Because it's partially somewhere on the bottom, and somewhere in "Coastal sediments," Business FM-Kuban quoted Golubitchenko as saying on April 28.

Yulia Nesterova, a member of the "My Tuapse" VKontakte community, reported on the afternoon of April 28 that "fuel oil is already floating in the sea in Shepsi," posting photographs. The photos show water contaminated with oil products, the shore, and oil stains on the pebbles. "There was a smell of gasoline in the morning, but now there's no smell in the village. But on the beach, the smell is terrible; the whole air smells of fuel oil; it's impossible to be there," the social media user wrote. The distance between Shepsi and Tuapse is 20 km by road and 9 km as the crow flies, according to the website "Avtodispetcher."

Ecologist and member of the Human Rights Council under the Governor of Krasnodar Krai Yevgeny Vitishko also believes that the consequences of the oil pollution in Tuapse will be more significant than the damage from the fuel oil spill in Anapa. He predicted that some of the oil products "will soon reach Sochi and Gelendzhik."

"A ton of oil spreads over an area of up to 12 square kilometers, so the Black Sea will be heavily polluted. We are already seeing this, as will the soil, forests, and water bodies, including rivers. The consequences will be much greater than those from the fuel oil spill in Anapa in December 2024," the National News Service quoted him as saying on April 28.

Tuapsegorgas facilities destroyed

Yevgeny Vitishko believes a federal state of emergency should be declared in Tuapse, as the region lacks the resources to deal with the aftermath. "This smog is already hanging from the Main Caucasus Range. My throat is sore, it's uncomfortable to breathe. People in Tuapse itself are suffering. Part of the city is now completely without water – my family, for example, has to haul water to our neighborhood," the environmentalist was quoted as saying by Yasno on April 28.

Water supply was cut off on several streets in Tuapse and in the Shepsinsky rural district because the power supply to the water pumping station on the site of the burning oil refinery failed, according to city mayor Sergei Boyko. On the evening of April 28, water supplies were restored for one hour to allow residents to stock up on household supplies. Water tanks were installed in the Zvezdnaya and Grozneft Street neighborhoods and in the village of Kroyanskoye, according to the official's official Telegram channel.

Valery Khot, editor-in-chief of the online publication Tuapse Info, reported that TuapseGorgaz tanks exploded on a nearby street after an oil spill from a burning refinery.

“It's very dangerous because they're located right next to residential infrastructure—garages, private homes. The flames rose over a hundred meters. I was standing about two hundred meters away, and the heat was like you were grilling kebabs right next to a barbecue. Friends' cars burned up. One friend's car was completely destroyed. I have a garage nearby—the walls are scorched, but there doesn't seem to be any fire. Fire crews are there, but I think they can only cool the perimeter right now to prevent the fire from spreading to the houses and garages,” Yasno quotes him as saying.

The Tuapse Info Telegram channel posted a message that “the gas filling station of OAO Tuapsegorgas no longer exists.”

“Now residents whose homes are connected to liquefied natural gas tanks will no longer receive this service. As a result of the fire at the oil refinery, the fire spread to city gas facilities, resulting in the destruction of the LPG tank farm,” the post reads.

“It seems everyone will have problems with gas tanks and gas. I hope the administration figures out a way to solve this problem quickly, otherwise we'll be back to cooking on barbecues near our homes,” wrote messenger user Alexander Titov in the comments.

“How can almost the entire city and district live without gas? I can't even imagine it!” fumed Yana.

Translated automatically via Google translate from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/422828