Ukrainian sailors held captive by Houthi rebels: Zelenskyy provides details

"Four of our sailors are in captivity by the Houthi rebels," the statement reads.

According to the president, Ukraine is working on their return.

What's happening

Earlier, Houthi rebels in Yemen released a video capturing the ship Galaxy Leader with an international civilian crew in the Red Sea.

At that time, Oleh Nikolenko, a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated that Ukrainian embassies involved were tasked with verifying the presence of Ukrainians on the captured ship.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has already instructed the relevant Ukrainian embassies to verify this information and to contact the owning company to clarify the exact composition of the ship's crew and other details. We are closely monitoring this situation," he wrote.

U.S. and allied strikes on Houthi positions in Yemen

Since November of last year, Houthi rebels in the Red Sea have been attacking merchant ships, claiming that they had connections with Israel.

This week, Yemeni militants carried out their largest attack, which was successfully repelled by the United States and Britain.

On the night of January 12, in response to continuous attacks by militants, Britain and the U.S. launched powerful strikes on targets associated with the Houthis in Yemen.

Learn more about who the Houthis are and why they are attacking ships in our material.