Detained CNN journalist freed in Ukraine

A freelance Ukrainian journalist who was detained by pro-Russian separatists while working for the U.S. news network CNN has been freed, the broadcaster said Saturday.

CNN said news producer Anton Skiba, who was captured by armed men outside a hotel in the rebel-held city of Donetsk on Tuesday, had called them to say that he was “free and that he is fine.”

The network said Skiba had been held by forces from the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, a breakaway region in eastern Ukraine where pro-Russian rebels are battling Ukrainian forces.

“CNN also has had visual confirmation that Skiba is free from sources on the ground in Donetsk,” the network said on its online news site.

Donetsk is under siege by Ukrainian forces, and fighting continued Saturday, with loud explosions heard in one suburb of the city. Kiev and its western allies accuse Russia of arming the separatists.