The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine has instructed embassies to verify information about Ukrainians on board a ship seized by the Houthis in the Red Sea, spokesman Oleh Nikolenko has said on Facebook.
"We have seen media reports about the seizure of the Galaxy Leader cargo ship in the Red Sea, which may have Ukrainian citizens on board. The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine has already instructed the relevant Ukrainian embassies to verify this information and contact the owner company to find out the exact composition of the ship's crew and other details," he said.
Nikolenko added that the Foreign Ministry is keeping the situation under special control.
Earlier, the Israeli Defence Forces said that Yemeni Houthis, backed by Iran, had seized a ship in the Red Sea. The IDF said in a statement that the ship was sailing from Turkey to India with an international civilian crew.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that the British ship, operated by a Japanese company, was "seized at the whim of Iran by Houthi rebels". The ship has 25 crew members from Ukraine, Bulgaria, the Philippines and Mexico, but no Israelis.