Somali pirates have freed the crew of 24 Ukrainians held on the Greek-owned vessel MV Ariana after an ordeal of over seven months, Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko said Thursday. 'The Ukrainian sailors have been freed. I congratulate the 24 guys, their families and all of Ukraine on this victory,' Yushchenko said in a statement. A Ukrainian security source told selfnews the pirates quit the cargo ship at around 1215 GMT. 'Work is now underway to restart the vessel's engines,' the source said. The Maltese-flagged vessel was seized on May 2 en route from the Middle East to Brazil with 10,000 tonnes of soya beans in one of the longest-running hostage situations off the coast of Somalia. 