Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption What next for Chelsea Manning after release? 
 
 US soldier Chelsea Manning is celebrating her freedom after being released from military prison. 
 
 Manning took to Twitter after her release, photographing her "first steps of freedom" in civilian clothes. 
 
 In a brief statement, she said she was focused on the future, which "is far more important than the past". 
 
 She served seven years of a 35-year sentence for leaking hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables and military files to Wikileaks. 
 
 Most of her sentence was commuted by then-US President Barack Obama in January. 
 
 In a statement issued through the American Civil Liberties Union, which provided her with legal support, Manning said: "After another anxious four months of waiting, the day has finally arrived. I am looking forward to so much!" 
 
 She added: "Whatever is ahead of me is far more important than the past. I'm figuring things out right now - which is exciting, awkward, fun, and all new for me." 
 
 A US Army spokesperson confirmed that she left Fort Leavenworth military prison in Kansas in the early morning. 
 
 Image copyright Twitter Image caption Manning posted her message to a new Instagram account at the same time 
 
 The 29-year-old soldier was born Bradley Manning. 
 
 A day after she was sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2013, Manning said she had felt female since childhood and wanted to live as a woman called Chelsea. 
 
 "For the first time, I can see a future for myself as Chelsea," she said in a statement last week ahead of her release. "I can imagine surviving and living as the person who I am and can finally be in the outside world." 
 
 Speaking to the BBC, Manning's friend, the journalist Glenn Greenwald - who was involved in the publication of leaks from Edward Snowden - said she faced a difficult life outside prison. 
 
 "She's going to live in a country where the top officials have expressed extreme denunciations of her, condemnations of her, who regard her as a traitor," he said. 
 
 "But the reality is that if you look back at what it is that she achieved, she revealed unquestionable war crimes, her disclosures led to reforms around the world." 
 
 President Obama's decision to commute her sentence drew criticism from leading Republicans, including Senator John McCain, who called it a "a grave mistake". 
 
 'Back to Maryland' 
 
 Manning was convicted of 20 charges in connection with the leaks, including espionage. She was acquitted of the most serious charge, aiding the enemy. 
 
 She defended the leaking by saying she had wanted to spark a public debate in the US about the role of the military and US foreign policy, but later apologised for "hurting the US", saying she had mistakenly believed she could "change the world for the better". 
 
 In January she tweeted that she wanted to move to Maryland after being released, a state where she previously lived. 
 
 On Monday she tweeted: "Two more days until the freedom of civilian life ^_^ Now hunting for private #healthcare like millions of Americans =P". 
 
 Manning will remain on active army duty while her military court conviction remains under appeal. She will have healthcare benefits but will be unpaid, the army says. 
 
 An online campaign set up by her attorney has raised $150,000 (£115,725) to pay for her living expenses for the first year after her release. 
 
 If the appeal is denied, she could be dishonourably discharged from the army, US media say. 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Chelsea Manning has been held in an all-male facility 
 
 Manning was deployed in Iraq as an intelligence analyst when she leaked hundreds of thousands of files to Wikileaks. 
 
 Included in those files was video footage of an Apache helicopter killing 12 civilians in Baghdad in 2007, and many sensitive messages between US diplomats. 
 
 Manning twice attempted suicide last year at Fort Leavenworth, a male military prison. 
 
 She also went on a hunger strike last year, which she ended after the military agreed to provide her with gender transition treatment. ||||| FILE - In this undated file photo provided by the U.S. Army, Pfc. Chelsea Manning poses for a photo wearing a wig and lipstick. Manning, the transgender soldier convicted in 2013 of illegally disclosing... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this undated file photo provided by the U.S. Army, Pfc. Chelsea Manning poses for a photo wearing a wig and lipstick. Manning, the transgender soldier convicted in 2013 of illegally disclosing... (Associated Press) 
 
 KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Latest on the release of Pvt. Chelsea Manning from a Kansas military prison (all times local): 
 
 9:15 a.m. 
 
 Army Pvt. Chelsea Manning says she's uncertain where her life will take her after serving seven years of a 35-year sentence for leaking classified government materials to WikiLeaks. 
 
 Manning said in a statement Wednesday that "whatever is ahead ... is far more important than the past," and that she's "figuring things out right now." The statement was emailed just hours after her release from a military prison in Kansas. 
 
 Minutes later, she tweeted a photo of her feet in tennis shoes, with the caption: "First steps of freedom!!" 
 
 Manning, who is transgender and was known as Bradley Manning before she transitioned in prison, was convicted in 2013 of 20 counts, including six Espionage Act violations. Former President Barack Obama granted her clemency in January before he left office. 
 
 ___ 
 
 8:25 a.m. 
 
 A documentary is being created about Pvt. Chelsea Manning, the transgender soldier convicted of giving classified government materials to WikiLeaks. 
 
 Pulse Films announced the film at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday, the same day that Manning was released from Fort Leavenworth military prison in Kansas. The film is titled "XY Chelsea" and will be directed by British filmmaker Tim Travers Hawkins and executive produced by "Citizenfour" filmmaker Laura Poitras. 
 
 Hawkins was planning to film Manning as she was released from prison Wednesday. Producers say Manning granted filmmakers "unprecedented access." Hawkins has followed her legal team since 2014. 
 
 Manning, who was known as Bradley Manning before transitioning, was convicted in 2013 of 20 counts, including six Espionage Act violations. President Barack Obama granted her clemency in January before departing office. 
 
 ___ 
 
 7:50 a.m. 
 
 The U.S. Army says Pvt. Chelsea Manning has been released from a Kansas military prison after serving seven years of her 35-year sentence for leaking classified government materials to WikiLeaks. 
 
 Army spokeswoman Cynthia Smith says The transgender soldier was released from Fort Leavenworth on Wednesday. Former President Barack Obama granted Manning clemency during his final days in office. 
 
 Manning, an Oklahoma native, was convicted in 2013 of 20 counts, including six Espionage Act violations, theft and computer fraud. She was acquitted of the most serious charge of aiding the enemy. 
 
 The former intelligence analyst in Iraq acknowledged leaking the materials, saying she wanted to expose what she considered to be the U.S. military's disregard of the effects of war on civilians. 
 
 She was known as Bradley Manning before transitioning in prison. 
 
 ___ 
 
 7:25 a.m. 
 
 Media reports say Pvt. Chelsea Manning has been released from a Kansas military prison after serving seven years of her 35-year sentence for leaking classified government materials to WikiLeaks. 
 
 NBC News, citing an unnamed U.S Army official, says Manning was released from Fort Leavenworth military prison Wednesday at around 2 a.m. Central Time. The BBC also cites an unnamed Army representative in reporting she has left the facility. The Associated Press has not confirmed these reports. 
 
 Former President Barack Obama granted Manning clemency during his final days in office. 
 
 Manning, an Oklahoma native, was convicted in 2013 of 20 counts, including six Espionage Act violations, theft and computer fraud. 
 
 Previously known as Bradley Manning, the former intelligence analyst in Iraq said she wanted to expose what she considered to be the U.S. military's disregard of the effects of war on civilians. 
 
 ___ 
 
 11:13 p.m. 
 
 Pvt. Chelsea Manning is due to be released from a Kansas military prison after serving seven years of her 35-year sentence for leaking classified government materials to WikiLeaks. 
 
 The transgender soldier is scheduled to be freed from Fort Leavenworth on Wednesday in accordance with former President Barack Obama's decision to grant her clemency in his final days in office. 
 
 The Oklahoma native's attorneys and the Army have refused to say precisely when and how she will be released, citing potential safety concerns. 
 
 The former intelligence analyst in Iraq acknowledged leaking the materials, saying she wanted to expose what she considered to be the U.S. military's disregard of the effects of war on civilians. 
 
 She was known as Bradley Manning before transitioning in prison. ||||| Chelsea Manning, the US soldier serving 35 years in military prison for leaking state secrets to WikiLeaks, has joined the social media site Twitter. 
 
 
 
 The army private has secured the handle @xychelsea and will begin posting tweets from noon ET on Friday. Given the conditions of her custody – which do not extend to internet access – she will dictate comments by phone to supporters who will then post on her behalf. 
 
 The new Twitter feed had by 5.30pm ET on Thursday already attracted more than 1,000 followers, even before the soldier had uttered a word or followed any other accounts. Her page includes a drawing of her as she would like to be seen, with long hair – even though the military authorities have consistently refused to allow her to grow out her hair. 
 
 Manning was arrested at the Forward Operating Base Hammer outside Baghdad in Iraq where she was working as an intelligence analyst. After a prolonged trial, she was convicted of charges arising from having passed a massive stash of US state secrets to the open-information organization WikiLeaks. 
 
 After she was convicted, Manning revealed that she wanted to transition from her male birth gender to begin living as a woman. After months of legal struggle, the US military agreed to approve her gender-reassignment hormone therapy – the first such treatment ever approved for an active member of the armed forces. 
 
 Since being incarcerated, Manning has developed her voice as a perceptive and questioning observer of international affairs as a columnist for the Guardian. She has written on issues ranging from President Obama’s “war on whistleblowers” to the CIA’s torture techniques and transgender politics. 
 
 The Chelsea Manning support team are encouraging people to follow the soldier on Twitter through a #FF campaign. They promise that the tweets posted on her feed will be “her own candid thoughts and comments”.
– Now that she's a free woman, Chelsea Manning is letting the world know. "First steps of freedom!!" she tweeted Wednesday upon her release from military prison, along with a photo of her feet. Manning also issued a statement picked up by NBC News, which read in part: "Whatever is ahead of me is far more important than the past. I'm figuring things out right now—which is exciting, awkward, fun, and all new for me." Meanwhile, Pulse Films announced at the Cannes Film Festival that it was making a documentary about the 29-year-old transgender soldier called XY Chelsea, reports the AP. Manning is expected to live in Maryland.