A change in wind speed allowed Anapa to avoid a second major beach pollution incident.

The oil slick discovered in the Black Sea on April 11 was presumably the result of a drone attack on a tanker. It skirted the coastline near Anapa and only slightly affected the Russian coast.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," in the week leading up to April 16, more than 650 oil-covered birds were delivered from Anapa beaches to the rehabilitation center on Zhemchuzhnaya Street.

In April 2026, the second major oil spill occurred in the Black Sea after the Volgoneft tanker disaster. On April 11, a huge oil slick was visually discovered several kilometers off the coast of Vityazevo and Anapa. One of the first signs of pollution was birds killed by the oil, according to the Transparent World project.

Satellite data showed that the spill began to form earlier. On April 7, the Sentinel-1 satellite recorded a U-shaped oil trail 12.5 km long near the Sofia tanker south of the Kerch Strait; the spill is believed to have occurred on the night of April 6-7. One of the probable causes is believed to be the aftermath of drone attacks on oil tankers. The slick began to grow rapidly and drift toward the coast. On April 12, the contaminated area reached approximately 117 square kilometers; on April 19, more than 590 square kilometers; on April 20, the fragmented slick area exceeded 1,200–1,500 square kilometers, according to a study prepared by ScanEx jointly with experts from the Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

According to satellite data, the oil product was gradually stretched by currents and wind, shifting into the open sea southwest of the Kerch Strait and toward Crimea. After storms on April 23–24, the compact slick broke up into long strips extending up to 130–140 km. Isolated contamination was recorded until May 7, and on May 8-9, small slicks of fuel oil were discovered on beaches in southwestern Crimea near Balaklava and Sevastopol.

Experts specifically note that the slick's shape and fragmentation indicate a heavy oil product. Presumably, it could have been bunker fuel oil, heavy gas oil, or vacuum distillate.

According to experts, the Anapa agglomeration avoided a second large-scale spill, primarily due to a change in wind conditions.

"Only with the help of space radar data was it possible to track, analyze, and assess this catastrophic situation, including determining the main drift direction and parameters of this spill. The prolonged persistence of the slick on the sea surface could indicate a significantly larger spill volume than previously assumed, and an even heavier and more viscous oil product in emulsified form than fuel oil. It is also interesting that after this slick left Russian territorial waters, both Russian environmentalists and government agencies lost interest in it. Ultimately, it turned out that it was solely due to natural factors, namely hydrometeorological conditions, which changed dramatically between April 12 and 13, that a second spill was avoided." "There was widespread pollution of the coast and beaches of the Anapa agglomeration, although some minor amounts of oil remained in the coastal zone and washed ashore," Andrey Ivanov of the Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences was quoted as saying in a publication on the SCANEX website.

As a reminder, 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".