The Russian attack on the port of Pivdenny in the Odesa region caused a spill of sunflower oil into the sea. Dozens of birds died as a result of the incident, the situation is critical.
After the recent attack by the Russian army on the port of Pivdenny in the Odesa region in the south of Ukraine, there was a spill of sunflower oil into the sea. Dozens of birds died as a result, Reuters reports, TASR writes.
According to Oleh Kiper, the head of the Odesa Regional Administration, during the massive Russian shelling of the infrastructure of the Pivdenny port, vegetable oil tanks were damaged, while part of it spilled in the port area and gradually to the mouth of the river and then into the sea.
The port was under fire
As the port was under constant fire for two days after the attacks, “work to stop the leak could only be partially carried out – exclusively between airstrikes,” Kiper wrote in a Telegram post. As a result, the oil spill spread across the sea and reached Odessa. According to Ukrainian media, the Odesa zoo took in about 200 birds whose feathers were contaminated with oil.
However, many birds died. “Birds lose the ability to move when their feathers are covered with oil. They cannot fly or swim. They lose mobility and quickly freeze,” explained Ihor Beľakov, the director of the zoo in Odessa, to Reuters. Ukrainian authorities noted that the spill involved vegetable oil – an organic substance that breaks down naturally over time.
