Journalists in Ukraine: One of the four RT hostages released; CNN's, A. Skiba, detained

According to the ANNA news press service, Vadim Aksanov was in "terrible state" as he hasn't slept for a day and was tortured.

The journalist told RT how he and his colleague - RT contributor Graham Phillips - were detained.

"We were captured in [Donetsk] airport. Graham [Phillips] ran to the parking lot, I ran after him. Then we were taken by people with guns. I saw the official army insignia before they put bags on our heads," Aksyonov told RT.

When they were taken to the cells near a checkpoint, they were tortured and beaten, he added, according to RT.

"At first we were kept together, then separately. I heard him [Phillips] screaming from pain and he heard me screaming, too," he told RT.

According to Aksyonov, the hostages were taken to different locations.

ANNA News Agency still has not revealed the fate of two other hostages - an employee of the press service of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, and possibly an acquaintance of Phillips, who accompanied the journalist to the airport.

However, more cases of journalists' abduction emerge in easrtern Ukraine.

CCN reports that Ukrainian journalist working as a freelancer for CNN remains in detention two days after he was kept hostage by pro-Russian separatists.

According to the CNN's public statement armed men from the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic seized Anton Skiba, on Tuesday, outside a hotel in the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk after he had worked for one day with a CNN television crew.

As stated, since his detention, CNN has attempted through a number of different separatist officials, including the office of the separatist Prime Minister Alexander Borodai, to secure Skiba's freedom. According to latest information A. Skiba was allowed to make a phonecall on Wednesday, to inform CNN's correspondetns that he being questioned in the custody of the seperatists security services.

International Reactions

"I strongly condemn this incident. Journalists must not become targets just for fulfilling their professional duties," declared Dunja Mijatovic, the representative for media freedom at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, in response to the incident.

The United Nations, Reporters without Borders and other groups have also expressed alarm over the escalating danger for journalists in the Ukraine.

Press freedom in the volatile eastern Ukraine has deteriorated, said the Committee to Protect Journalists, which pointed out that up to ten foreign journalists have been detained at least for a short period over the past week.

Seven journalists have also been killed while covering the unrest in eastern Ukraine - making it the deadliest country for journalists this year, according to UN statistics.

Sources: RT, CNN