Two people were “injured by mines while swimming in Mykolaiv Oblast,” the Kyiv Independent stated on Twitter. “According to Mykolaiv Oblast Governor Vitaliy Kim, the incident happened in Koblevo, a resort on the Black Sea coast. Swimming is banned in the area,” it added. The extent of the swimmers’ injuries has yet to be disclosed.
In a post on Telegram, Kim wrote that two people “blew themselves up on a mine in Koblevo while swimming near the barricade,” according to an English translation. The post noted that swimming is prohibited in the area.
Newsweek has reached out to Ukraine’s foreign ministry for further information about the incident.
The Black Sea has served as a site of major tensions during the war in recent weeks. On Saturday, hours after Russia and Ukraine had reached a deal to unblock ports in the Black Sea in order to free tens of millions of tons of Ukrainian grain, Russia struck the Ukrainian port of Odessa with missiles.
A top Ukrainian official accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of spitting “in the face” of the United Nations and Turkey—which helped broker the deal—following the strike.
“If the reached agreement is not fulfilled, Russia will bear full responsibility for deepening the global food crisis,” a Ukraine foreign ministry spokesman said, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Earlier this month, a top Ukrainian defense official said that his country is considering using Western weapons to target Russia’s Black Sea fleet.
“We have a permanent threat from the Russian Black Sea fleet. Given the new technologies and capabilities we receive, we have to address this threat,” Deputy Defense Minister Volodymyr Havrylov told the British newspaper The Times. “We are ready to target them all over the Black Sea if we have that capability.”
In recent days, Ukrainians have touted the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) that the United States has provided Ukraine in the fight against Russia. Last week, the White House announced it would be sending Ukraine four additional HIMARS.
In addition to posing danger for humans, the Russia-Ukraine war has also posed danger for dolphins, which have died at an alarming rate as Russian warships and submarines have caused noise pollution that’s proving deadly to the marine mammals.
The Kyiv Independent reported this month that thousands of dolphins have died each month since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February.
