Russian shelling causes vegetable oil spill at Ukraine’s largest port

The water area of Ukraine’s largest seaport, Pivdennyi, was contaminated with vegetable oil following Russian strikes on port infrastructure north of Odesa, the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority (USPA) reported.

According to the authority, the shelling caused a leak of vegetable oil into the port’s waters. For the first two days after the attack, the port remained under continuous fire, allowing response teams to carry out containment work only intermittently, between air raid alerts.

During this period, specialists gradually deployed containment booms to limit the spread of the spill. Once the security situation stabilized, the booms were fully installed and specialized vessels were brought in to collect the pollutant.

The USPA emphasized that the substance involved is vegetable oil, an organic material that undergoes natural biological decomposition.

Meanwhile, The Electronic Grain Exchange reported that a vegetable oil transshipment terminal was damaged during Saturday’s shelling of Pivdennyi port. Large-scale fires broke out on the site, killing one employee and injuring two others. Thousands of tonnes of sunflower oil were reportedly destroyed.

On the morning of December 24, Odesa Regional Military Administration head Serhiy Lysak said oil-like slicks and dead birds had been found near Dolphin and Lanzheron beaches in Odesa.

In 2024, Pivdennyi became Ukraine’s largest port by cargo turnover among those located in government-controlled territory, handling 35.55 million tonnes of cargo.

• Earlier attacks on the port were reported throughout the week. On December 20, authorities said storage tanks on port territory had been hit, without providing further details. On December 21, a drone strike damaged warehouses and port infrastructure and caused power outages. On December 22, a major fire engulfed around 30 containers of flour and vegetable oil at the port.