You're reading: Pro-Russian activists in Sloviansk say two Ukrainian Alfa unit officers freed

The pro-Russian activists of Sloviansk, eastern Ukraine, have released two of the three detained officers of the Ukrainian Security Service's Alfa special operations unit in exchange for their activists.

“We managed to agree with the opposite site to swap 2 of these special operations unit officers for our supporters. We freed them afterwards,” the activist’s spokesman told Interfax-Ukraine over the phone.

The freed soldiers pledged not to take part in any military operations in southeastern Ukraine, he added.

As reported, 3 officers of the Alfa special operations unit and the Ukrainian Security Services were detained by pro-Russian activists in Horlivka, near Sloviansk, late on April 26.

According to Ukraine’s Security Service, the officers “were working to detain a Russian citizen suspected of the murder of Horlivka city legislature member Volodymyr Rybak.”