Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday that more than 3,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed and wounded in Russia's Kursk region and warned that Pyongyang could send more personnel and equipment for Moscow's army.

Russian ruler Vladimir Putin has introduced a federal state of emergency due to the fuel oil spill following the 15 December tanker accident in the Kerch Strait. Source: Latvia-based Russian media outlet Meduza;

Moscow on Thursday declared a national state of emergency following an oil spill caused by two separate incidents involving Russian tankers in the Black Sea.The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations said in a statement that a severe storm hit the two tankers on December 15,

Authorities in Russia's southern Krasnodar region on Wednesday declared a region-wide emergency, saying that oil was still washing up on the coastline 10 days after two ageing tankers ran into trouble.

Some 3,700 tons of low-grade fuel oil have spilled into the Black Sea since two Russian oil tankers were severely damaged in a storm on Dec. 15.

Russia Wednesday expanded an operation to clean up thousands of tonnes of oil that spilt into the sea and contaminated 50 kilometers of beaches after tanker ships were wrecked in a storm.

Hundreds of volunteers and emergency workers continued to clean the coastline of Russia’s southern Krasnodar region Wednesday after two Russian ships spilled around 3,700 tons (3,300 tonnes) of low-grade fuel oil into the Kerch Strait.

The thick oil slick on the water’s surface endangers the growth and development of marine life, both at sea and along the coastline. For example, oil sticks to a bird’s feathers, causing them to mat and separate, impairing the waterproofing of the feathers.

In the wake of a significant oil spill along Russia's Black Sea coast, volunteers have released a video appealing directly to President Vladimir Putin for urgent federal assistance. The environmental disaster,

Crimean activists warn that the situation on the occupied peninsula could be even worse than on the Russian side of the Black Sea coast. According to one of them, the consequences of the oil spill on the Crimean beaches are more dangerous than in the Russian city of Anapa.