Already 7 ships leave Odesa ports along new corridor - Ukrainian Navy

According to the latest data, seven ships have already left the Odesa ports along the temporary humanitarian corridor, said Dmitry Pletenchuk, spokesman for the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

"According to updated data, seven ships have already left along the new corridor. That is, these are seven of the seven successful cases. Two came in, seven came out. The five vessels are those that were here before the full-scale invasion began. Accordingly, this process continues. We are doing everything to guarantee the safety of the area where the vessels are in our territorial waters," the speaker said at a briefing of Ukraine Media Center Odesa.

As Pletenchuk explained, then the ships enter the territorial waters of Romania, Bulgaria and Turkiye all the way to the Bosphorus Gulf.

"This is already a territorial sea of NATO countries. And accordingly, the task of fire destruction in this territory is the task of fire destruction in the sovereign territory of these countries. Therefore, they (russians) cannot decide on this," he said.

The Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stressed that the danger in the Black Sea today is due to aviation and missile weapons. At the same time, the enemy no longer brings ship groups into the water area, because it is afraid of their destruction.

"They keep them away, somewhere beyond the Crimean shores, closer to their Novorossiysk base. Therefore, missiles, Shaheds, aviation continue to work. This is the direction that we will still need to block. And, of course, hope for new weapons, like F-16 for example," Pletenchuk added.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on July 17, russia announced the withdrawal of guarantees for the safety of shipping in the Black Sea to provide a "grain corridor."

Ukraine exported 49 million tons of grain in the 2022/2023 marketing year, which is 1.3% more than in the 2021/2022 marketing year.