How Black Sea dolphins are casualties of Russia's war in Ukraine

Rusev walking along the shore of the Black Sea looking for dead dolphins at the Limans Tuzly Lagoons National Nature Park, near the village of Prymorske on August 28 amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Photo: Dimitar Dilkoff /AFP

Pacing up and down a beach of fine white sand on the Black Sea coast, 63-year-old Ukrainian scientist Ivan Rusev breathes a sigh of relief: he did not find any dead dolphins that day (Aug 28).

A few moments earlier he had rushed towards what he thought was a stranded dolphin. Mercifully it turned out only to be "tangled fishing gear".