Last week, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin met in Alaska. Headlines circled the world. Ceasefires, territorial concessions, power optics.
What didn’t make the headlines is what the war has done beneath the waves.
While leaders shake hands, the Black Sea has become a hidden frontline, and its dolphins, three species found nowhere else on Earth, are paying the price.
One in Five Dolphins Gone
Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, scientists estimate up to 20% of the Black Sea’s dolphins have died.
Carcasses have been found on beaches in Ukraine, Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria. Most showed no fishing injuries or propeller scars. Instead, they carried signs of a different kind of weapon: war itself.
How a War Kills Dolphins
Noise as a weapon: Underwater explosions and sonar pulses cause acoustic trauma, disorienting dolphins and rupturing delicate sonar organs.
Toxic pollution: Most missile launches spills fuel. Every sunken ship leaks oil.
Ecocide: When Russia destroyed the Kakhovka Dam, millions of litres of polluted water and debris surged into the sea, poisoning ecosystems downstream.
For dolphins, animals that navigate, hunt, and communicate entirely through sound, the Black Sea has become uninhabitable.
Dolphins Drafted Into Service
As wild populations collapse, some dolphins face a different fate.
Russia has revived its Cold War programme of military dolphins. Satellite images show enclosures at naval bases in Crimea, where dolphins are trained as living sonar to patrol for divers and drones.
It is cruel, outdated, and a crime against nature.
Why This Matters
Dolphins are apex predators. Their disappearance is a warning light that the entire Black Sea ecosystem is unraveling. Fish stocks, plankton, the delicate balance of life in one of the world’s most unique seas, all are under threat.
This isn’t only about dolphins. It’s about whether the Black Sea itself can recover once the war ends.
The War’s Missing Victims
On August 15, Trump and Putin shook hands. Cameras flashed. Deals were floated… but history won’t just be written in treaties.
It will also be written in what’s missing.
When the war is over, the dolphins may not appear in the footnotes. They may simply be gone.
A Note From Me
I write and record Voice for the Blue to uncover the ocean stories the world too often ignores, stories like this, where war collides with wildlife.
If you believe this work matters, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. An annual subscription keeps these investigations free for those who can’t pay, and helps ensure these stories are told at the scale they deserve.
