Three vessels are currently sailing from Ukrainian ports. More than 20 more vessels are planning to sail through the new corridor in the Black Sea, said Dmytro Pletenchuk, spokesperson for the Ukrainian Navy, at the Ukraine Media Centre.
"As of now, we have three ships leaving our Ukrainian ports. In total, we have 12 ships heading west through the new corridor, 10 ships leaving and we need to add these three that are now leaving," the spokesman said.
According to him, the situation in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov is under control, albeit difficult. There are up to five Russian ships in the Black Sea. The Russians have stepped up security at the so-called Crimea (Kerch) Bridge. There are now four ships and five boats there, which have returned to a passive mode of service.
There are two missile carriers in the Sea of Azov, with a total volley of up to eight missiles. There is also one warship.
"I don't know what caused this yet, but we can see a change in tactics. They are trying to periodically move units between different ports. They are trying to enter Sevastopol as little as possible, because they do not feel the level of security they are used to," Pletenchuk said.
The rest of the ships stay closer to the Novorossiysk base. From time to time, they have started to enter the Sea of Azov.
In August this year, a temporary maritime corridor was launched, which was created primarily to evacuate ships that were in the Ukrainian ports of Chornomorsk, Odesa and Pivdennyy at the time of Russia's full-scale invasion.