The sea washed 58 dead dolphins ashore along the coast of a national park in the Odesa region over the course of two months

The number of dead dolphins found regularly along the coast by employees of the Tuzly Estuaries National Park throughout May and June rose to 58 on the morning of June 30.

This was reported by Ivan Rusev, an employee of the national park.

The ecologist is certain that the number of animals that have died since the start of the full-scale invasion runs into the thousands. 

“The actual total number of dolphins killed is in the thousands. Dolphins are also washing ashore in large numbers on the coasts of Bulgaria and Romania. And in Turkey, Bulgaria, and Romania, an unexpectedly large number of dolphins were recorded in territorial waters in May and June. The animals are likely fleeing the war from the combat zone,” he noted.

Over the weekend of June 6–7, staff members of the Tuzly Estuaries National Nature Park discovered 15 dead cetaceans while surveying 12 kilometers of the national park’s coastline and an adjacent area. Thus, the total number of cetaceans washed ashore by the sea over the course of three days within the national park alone stood at 37 individuals at that time.

The fact is that on June 5, a number of dead dolphins—22 animals—were found on the coast, a figure described asunprecedented. Most of them—20—were Azov dolphins, the only cetacean species in the Sea of Azov listed in Ukraine’s Red Book. The sea also washed ashore one bottlenose dolphin and one white-beaked dolphin. 

Earlier, staff at the Tuzly Estuaries National Nature Park foundfourdead dolphins along the coast over the course of a week, and two more outside the national park. The last time a mass die-offof dolphinswas observed was in the summer of 2025.   

Constant, deadly military activity—mine explosions, bombings, missile launches, and the use of powerful sonar by military ships—is systematically destroying biodiversity. 

Кирило Бойко