Emergency workers toiling to clean up an oil spill in the Black Sea have detected seven new slicks, a Russian official told the TASS state news agency on Friday, as authorities struggle to mitigate the effects of the nearly month-old disaster.

The Black Sea is home to different cetacean species — some endangered — and it was the site of an oil spill in the middle of December that killed 31 of them.

A dolphin rescue center in Russia says 32 dolphins have died since fuel oil spilled out of two storm-stricken tankers three weeks ago in the Kerch Strait near the Russia-occupied Crimean Peninsula

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that more needed to be done to clean up an oil spill in the Black Sea, saying efforts so far appeared to have been insufficient to deal with the ecological disaster.

Fresh oil started pouring from a stricken Russian tanker in the Black Sea on Friday, said officials in Moscow, as Ukraine warned of "terrible environmental consequences" from the spill.By trying to "conceal the terrible environmental consequences" Moscow had left the entire Black Sea region vulnerable to the fallout,

The Black Sea has recently faced a devastating environmental disaster due to an oil spill from Russian tankers. Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged the situation and stated that current efforts to address the crisis are insufficient,

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday criticized Russian officials for their slow response to what he described as the country’s most serious environmental disaster in recent memory. “This is practically one of the most serious environmental challenges we’ve faced in recent years,