Ukraine Conducts Operation To Release Its Sailors From Captivity Of Houthis

Details have become known.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and the Main Intelligence Directorate (MID) have conducted a joint operation to release three Ukrainian sailors from the captivity of the Houthis. They will soon return home.

This is reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

As the agency says, three Ukrainian sailors were detained during the seizure of the Galaxy Leader cargo ship in November 2023.

Now the sailors released from captivity are safe and under the care of Ukrainian diplomats. They are all in good physical condition, have all the necessary documents and will soon return home.

The Foreign Ministry, in turn, also expressed gratitude to the Sultanate of Oman and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Oman for attention to the fate of the sailors and mediation assistance to release them from captivity.

‘We count on further active development of bilateral relations after the opening of Ukraine's foreign diplomatic establishment,’ the MFA added.

Details from the MID

As intelligence notes, the freed sailors are already on their way to meet their families, after which they will undergo rehabilitation.

The operation to free the sailors lasted more than a year and involved a complex informal negotiation process with the Houthis and other contiguous parties.

The first contact with the captive Ukrainians was established on 3 April 2024, five months after the capture of the ship.

Capture of the Galaxy Leader

In November 2023, Yemeni Houthis seized Galaxy Leader, a Bahamas-flagged cargo ship with an international civilian crew in the Red Sea. At the time, 25 crew members from Bulgaria, the Philippines, Mexico, and Ukraine were on board.

In January 2024, Volodymyr Zelensky said that four Ukrainian sailors were held captive by the Houthis and confirmed that Ukraine was working on their release.

Yesterday, 22 January, the Western media reported that the Houthis had freed the crew of the Galaxy Leader, but there was no official confirmation of this at the time.

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