Ukrainian Navy: we launched a humanitarian corridor through the Black Sea

On Thursday, we launched a temporary humanitarian corridor through the Black Sea, which will be used by our commercial ships waiting in ports in the coming days; the goal of this initiative will also be to unblock the transport of grain and agricultural products, Oleh Chalyk, spokesman for the Ukrainian navy, told Reuters.

– The corridor will be very transparent. We will put cameras on the ships and broadcast the traffic live. In this way, we want to show that this is a purely humanitarian mission that does not pursue any military goals, Czalyk announced.

Humanitarian corridor across the Black Sea

Reuters points out that Ukraine's navy recalled in a separate statement that the use of the Black Sea waters is associated with the threat of Russian attacks and sea mines. Despite this, it was decided to launch a humanitarian corridor to allow the departure of commercial ships remaining in ports from February 2022, i.e. the beginning of the Russian invasion. We are talking about units "trapped" in Odessa, Chornomorsk and Pivdenny.

As added, the Ukrainian side has already submitted to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) the course of the proposed shipping routes.

– We need more details on the temporary corridor announced by Ukraine today. It cannot function until Russia unequivocally commits not to attack ships, an unnamed German grain trading company told the agency.

In mid-July, the Kremlin introduced a de facto blockade of Ukrainian ports, withdrawing from the so-called grain deal. The agreement concluded under the auspices of the UN and allowing Ukraine to export food products through the Black Sea has been in force since July 2022.

After withdrawing from the agreement, the Russians intensified their attacks on Ukraine's port infrastructure. On August 2, the authorities in Kyiv announced the destruction of a grain silo in Izmail. According to the Prosecutor General's Office, there were also damaged port warehouses and administrative buildings. The Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine, Oleksandr Kubrakov, said that almost 40,000 buildings were destroyed in Izmail tons of grain.

The Ukrainian navy has lost almost all its ships, but it has smaller units such as cutters and water drones, it also has coastal defense and marines. Despite the lack of large ships, she was successful in the war with Russia, the most famous of which was the destruction of the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet "Moscow". The destruction of this cruiser and the subsequent liberation of Snake Island by Ukraine led to the weakening of Russia in this part of the Black Sea. This was facilitated by getting Russia to agree to the grain deal, which Russia did not renew until this summer, escalating the situation. One of the pretexts given by Russia is that Ukraine is allegedly using the grain deal for military purposes.