Ukraine's Foreign Ministry has confirmed that a Ukrainian journalist who was kidnapped in Syria is free after more than 150 days in captivity.

Ministry spokesman Yevhen Perebiynis says the reporter, Ankhar Kochneva, is expected to contact the Ukrainian embassy in Damascus later Tuesday.

Kochneva, who has written for Syrian and Russian newspapers, was kidnapped in western Syria on Oct. 9 and reportedly held by members of the Free Syrian Army opposition group. Perebiynis said he had no further information on her.

The Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda on Tuesday quoted Kochneva as saying she walked away from the house where she was held, skirted a rebel guardpost and then walked about 15 kilometers through fields until finding a villager who helped her.