"The negotiations are ongoing. We still haven't handed over the money but it's all leading up to that," Olga Girzheva, the mother of one of the hostages, told Ukrainian media, without giving a final figure for the ransom.

Pirates had requested eight million dollars (5.9 million euros), media said.

They had initially demanded 35 million dollars before dropping the figure to 20 million and further negotiations were held to reduce that figure.

Relatives told reporters that most of the ransom money had come from leading politicians including Viktor Yanukovych, a former prime minister who leads Ukraine's main opposition party, the pro-Russian Regions Party.

On September 25, pirates seized the MV Faina, a Ukrainian ship carrying 33 Soviet-type battle tanks, anti-air systems, rocket launchers and ammunition. There were 17 Ukrainians, three Russians and one Latvian on board.

Ukraine has said the shipment was bound for Kenya but a spokesman for the US Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain said earlier that the arms were for a buyer in Sudan in possible violation of international sanctions on the African state.

On Friday, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko's office held a special meeting, with officials saying afterwards that they were working "every hour" to liberate the Ukrainian sailors on board the ship.

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