It was epic, Mykhaylo Shtekel says, and it was cold. He often remembers the early winter day in November 2019 that a tanker, the Delfi, ran aground on one of the golden beaches that stretch south from the Ukrainian port city of Odesa.
Shtekel, a Radio Liberty correspondent, had stood on the shore, soaked and shivering, and watched as the 1,600-tonne, 42-year-old vessel first hit a breakwater and then, after slowly filling with grey, frothing sea, rolled on to its side.
“It was some sight to see a ship, a pretty big ship, go down in a storm. It was pretty impressive,” Shtekel told openDemocracy. “Every now and again I look out the pictures I took that day and reminisce.
