Volunteers are grappling with environmental havoc across more than 35 miles of coastline, after at least 3,700 tons of heavy oil spilled into the Kerch Strait.

Volunteers helping to clean up a major oil spill along Russia's Black Sea coast appealed in a video released on Monday for President Vladimir Putin to urgently send federal aid, saying that they and local authorities were overwhelmed.

Russian ruler Vladimir Putin has introduced a federal state of emergency due to the fuel oil spill following the 15 December tanker accident in the Kerch Strait. Source: Latvia-based Russian media outlet Meduza;