A top Ukrainian businessman says he helped pay a $3.2 million ransom to free 20 sailors who spent over three months held captive by Somali pirates.
Viktor Pinchuk said in a statement Tuesday he felt obliged to help his fellow countrymen. He did not say how much he provided.
President Viktor Yushchenko's office has said Pinchuk paid the "lion's share" of the ransom.
Pinchuk is ranked as Ukraine's second richest man by the influential Korrespondent magazine. The son-in-law of former President Leonid Kuchma owns the country's largest producer of steel pipes and runs a number charitable, art and other projects.
Pirates seized the arms-laden Faina off the cost of Somalia on Sept. 25 and released the crew and the ship in early February.
Source: AP
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