Defense Intelligence and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs evacuated Ukrainian sailors released from Houthi captivity
23.01.2025 - 11:16
The Main Intelligence Directorate, together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, evacuated three Ukrainian sailors who had been held captive for over a year.
The operation to rescue Ukrainian citizens took place with the full support and assistance of the Royal Office of the Sultanate of Oman, the Defense intelligence reported.
The released Ukrainian sailors are now heading to meet their families. The men are awaiting rehabilitation.
The comprehensive operation to free them lasted over a year and included a complex informal negotiation process with the Houthis and other parties involved in the situation surrounding the detained vessel.
Military intelligence officers established the first direct contact with the captured Ukrainians on April 3, 2024 – after five months of painstaking work, they assured the sailors that Ukraine was doing everything possible to free them. On January 22, 2025, the Ukrainian citizens were finally released.
Earlier, USM reported that the Houthis had released the sailors from the Galaxy Leader vessel. The Royal Oman Air Force plane flew to Yemen on January 22 and took off again about an hour after the Houthis announced the release of the sailors.
The Galaxy Leader has been in Yemen since it was seized by Yemeni Houthis on November 19, 2023, while en route from Turkey to India.
The UK-based Ray Car Carriers and the Philippine government have repeatedly called for the release of the crew members. Seventeen of the crew members are from the Philippines, three from Ukraine, two each from Bulgaria and Mexico, and one from Romania.
In August, the Philippine Foreign Ministry reported that several members of the Filipino crew were experiencing “significant health problems.” The report stated that they had symptoms of malaria.
As a reminder, the European Parliament had previously called for the release of a ship with Ukrainian sailors captured by the Houthis. Ukraine has also called for the release of the Galaxy Leader crew.
