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.

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.

An animal rescue group said 61 dead cetaceans - an order of aquatic mammals that includes whales and dolphins - had been recorded since the oil spill.

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.

The oil spilled into the Black Sea by two Russian tankers last month could soon reach Ukraine's southern coast in the Mykolaiv and Odesa oblasts, Navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk said on air on Jan.

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,