Dump of downed drones and missiles on the Black Sea floor off Odesa

A dump of debris from downed drones and missiles has formed on the Black Sea floor off Odesa. Ecologist Vladyslav Balynskyi told the Unian agency about it. Ukrainian forces try to shoot down missiles and drones coming in from the sea before they reach populated areas. The hit weapons fall into the water, sink to the bottom and turn into piles of wreckage there.

“What I saw there is terrifying,” the ecologist said.

What settles on the seabed

According to Balynskyi, parts of Russian drones lie near the breakwaters and on the beaches: pieces of foam plastic, composite body elements and carbon-fiber structures. But not everything stays on the surface. Engines, metal parts, electronic boards and traces of fuel and oil mostly settle on the seabed.

Over time these materials break down, at least partly, but their remains are no less dangerous for that. Pollutants enter the marine environment. What worries the ecologist most is the accumulation of such materials: this is a systematic flow of pollution that has been entering the coastal and marine ecosystem for years.

Sea mines are a separate problem. Combined with the wreckage of missiles and drones, they are especially dangerous not only for ships but also for marine life.

Dolphins, seahorses and mussels

The war is already affecting the numbers of some species, Balynskyi said. “The situation is most serious for cetaceans,” he said. He named underwater explosions and powerful acoustic shocks, which injure the animals, as possible causes of dolphin deaths.

Dead seahorses are also increasingly found on the Black Sea shore. Their deaths are caused primarily by oil slicks from sunken ships, as well as by fuel and oil from downed drones and missiles.

Changes are visible in other organisms too. The ecologist recalled the mass die-off of mussels after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, caused by the sharp freshening of coastal waters. Russian forces blew up the dam on the Dnipro in June 2023, and Ukrainian authorities called it ecocide at the time.

Mussels, according to Balynskyi, play an important role in coastal ecosystems: they filter water, take part in processing organic matter and create habitat for many organisms. That is why their decline affects the condition of all seabed dwellers.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz