MOSCOW, August 8. /TASS/. A Turkish tanker, two dry cargo carriers from Liberia, two dry cargo carriers and a tanker flying the flag of the Marshall Islands have sailed off Ukrainian ports under the initiative on mutual understanding on safe export of grain from Ukrainian ports, Mikhail Mizintsev, the headquarters head and chief of Russia’s National Defense Management Center, said on Monday.
"On August 7, 2022, as part of the initiative on mutual understanding on safe export of grain from Ukrainian ports, the Riva Winds bulk carrier (the Marshall Island, loaded with corn) left the port of Odessa, the Mustafa Necati tanker (Turkey, loaded with sunflower oil), the Star Helen bulk carrier (the Marshall Islands, loaded with flour) and the Glory bulk carrier (the Marshall Islands, loaded with corn) sailed off from the port of Chernomorsk. On August 8, 2022, the Arizona bulk carrier (Liberia, loaded with corn) left the port of Chernomorsk and the Sakura bulk carrier (Liberia, loaded with soybeans) sailed off from the port of Yuzhny. Russia is strictly committed to its liabilities under the agreements for the purposes of ensuring export of grain and mineral fertilizers from Ukrainian port," he said.
According to Mizintsev, who also heads the Russian Joint Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response in Ukraine, sixty-one ships from 14 countries are still blocked in the ports of Kherson, Nikolayev, Chernomorsk, Ochakov, Odessa, and Yuzhny.
"Risks for navigation and of damages to port infrastructure from drifting Ukrainian mines are still in place for the Black Sea littoral states," he stressed. "The Russian armed forces have created necessary conditions for the operation of two maritime humanitarian corridors."
The 139 nautical miles long and three miles wide maritime humanitarian corridors in the Black Sea are opened from 08:00am to 19:00 Moscow time from the ports of Kherson, Nikolayev, Chernomorsk, Ochakov, Odessa, and Yuzhny in the westward direction from Ukraine’s territorial sea. Another corridor, 115 miles long and two miles wide, is open round the clock from the port of Mariupol in the Azov Sea toward the Black Sea.