Ukraine says navy does not see Russian ships in merchant ships’ corridor of Black Sea

Ukraine’s navy did not observe Russian ships in the part of the Black Sea where the corridor for merchant ships passes, but the Ukrainian military has warned ship owners and captains that it is impossible to guarantee 100 percent safety of ships now.

“This system, it is established in the sense of communications. Interested persons know the procedure. Registration is already open, a coordinator is working, so in the near future we are waiting for the first units to go,” said Dmytro Pletenchuk, spokesman for the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, according to state news agency Ukrinform.

He added that “the working conditions of the corridor are difficult because Russia has constantly threatened the owners of these merchant vessels, intimidated them.”

Pletenchuk stressed: “However, all this happens under the control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. We do everything that depends on us. Only later it will become clear how this corridor will work. And currently, we do not observe Russian ships in this part of the Black Sea. We haven't seen them for quite a long time. They are now mostly in the northeastern part of the Black Sea, closer to their internationally recognized shores, i.e. Novorossiysk.”

On Thursday, Ukraine announced new temporary routes for merchant vessels going to/from the Black Sea seaports of Ukraine, but a military threat and mine danger from the Russian Federation remains throughout all routes.

Ukraine’s navy announcement comes as a Russian warship on Sunday fired warning shots at a cargo ship in the Black Sea.

This was the first such incident since Russia announced in July that it will start considering all vessels traveling on the Black Sea heading to Ukrainian ports as “potential military cargo carriers”. It also declared a number of areas in the northwestern and southeastern parts of the international waters of the Black Sea as “temporarily dangerous for navigation,” and adding that the flag countries of ships traveling to Ukrainian ports will be considered parties to the conflict on Kyiv’s side.

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