MOSCOW, May 27. /TASS/. Ukraine should demine its ports as soon as possible, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a telephone conversation with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer.

"At the request of the Austrian chancellor, the Russian president assessed the situation in the context of the ongoing special military operation to defend Donbass and informed him about the efforts to ensure safe navigation in the Black and Azov Seas," the Kremlin press service said.

"In this context, it was stressed that the Ukrainian side should demine its ports as soon as possible to ensure free passage of the blocked ships," the Kremlin said.

The Russian president also drew Nehammer’s attention to the fact that Kiev is dodging talks with Russia. "It was noted that Kiev is stonewalling the negotiating process between Russian and Ukrainian representatives," it said.

According to earlier reports, Russia opened two maritime humanitarian corridors in the Azov and Black Sea from 08:00am to 19:00 every day. The 80-nautical-mile long and three-mile wide humanitarian corridor in the Black Sea is meant for ships to leave the ports of Kherson, Nikolayev, Chernomorsk, Ochakov, Odessa, and Yuzhny in the southwestern direction off Ukraine’s territorial sea.

The Russian defense ministry also reported that Russian Navy specialists had cleared the port of Mariupol of mines. According to the ministry, more than 12,000 explosive objects were spotted and destroyed during the mine clearance works. The port was also cleared of sunken ships and other obstacles hampering navigation. Russian specialists also demined an Azov Sea coast section adjacent to the port of Mariupol.