Ships of the Ukrainian Navy in the port of Ochakov. Archival photoMOSCOW, May 12.Kyiv is blocking 75 foreign ships from 17 states in seven Ukrainian ports, Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the National Center for Defense Control of the Russian Federation, said on Thursday. «In seven ports (Kherson , Nikolaev, Chornomorsk, Ochakov, Odessa, Yuzhny and Mariupol) remain blocked 75 foreign ships from 17 states. Created by official Kyiv in its internal waters and territorial sea, the threat of shelling and high mine danger do not allow ships to freely go to the open sea,» he said. Little fingers.
Peskov commented on the rumors about Kyiv's «ultimatums» on «Azovstal»According to him, the Russian Armed Forces daily from 8.00 to 19.00 (Moscow time) open a humanitarian corridor, which is a safe lane for ships in the south-west direction from the territorial sea of Ukraine with a length of 80 and a width 3 nautical miles. Detailed information on the functioning of the maritime humanitarian corridor is transmitted daily every 15 minutes via VHF radio communications on 14 and 16 international channels in English and Russian, the general noted. «The Kyiv authorities continue to evade interaction with representatives of foreign states in every possible way and shipowners in resolving the issue of ensuring the safe exit of blocked vessels to the assembly area.At the same time, the danger to navigation and damage to port infrastructure from the drift of Ukrainian mines torn from anchor along the coast of the Black Sea states remains,» Mizintsev added.
19.5 thousand people were evacuated from dangerous areas of Donbass and UkraineMeanwhile, he noted, the Russian Federation is taking a full range of comprehensive measures to ensure the safety of civilian navigation in the waters of the Black and Azov Seas. Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years.» bloody crimes against civilians» of Donbass. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces strike only at military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops and, on March 25, they completed the main tasks of the first stage — they significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass.
