All 7 kidnapped observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, who were held by pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine since 25 April, were freed, Saturday.

Five Ukrainian officers taken with them were also freed, according to Russian media reports.

Russia's RIA news agency quoted Vladimir Lukin, an envoy sent by President Vladimir Putin to negotiate the release, as saying: "All 12 people who have been on my list have been released."

“It was not a deal but a voluntary humanitarian act,” Lukin told Ria Novosti.

The observers are from Germany, Sweden, Poland and Denmark.

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