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A Ukrainian journalist taken hostage by a faction of Syrian rebels in October escaped from her captors Monday, CNN reported, citing a Russian media report.

The rebels had demanded a $50 million ransom from the Ukrainian government for Ankhar Kochneva's release, the Russian state-run RIA Novosti reported.

"I thought they would have killed me eventually and would say that it was the army who did it," Kochneva told Russian radio website BFM.ru on Monday. "So I made a decision to escape. I simply came to the street and (left) and maybe in 15 kilometers I met normal people who helped me to get to the army's side."

Her ordeal as a captive took a toll on her health, Kochneva said. "I lost about 30 kilograms," or 66 pounds. "My health condition is very bad because they didn't treat me at all. I spent the whole winter in a room with a broken window. When the snow fell it was in the room, too, and on the ceiling. It's a miracle that I didn't become seriously sick."

She walked around minefields to escape, she told RIA Novosti.

Kochneva, who specializes in tourism writing and not war reporting, told BFM.ru that she planned to remain in Syria, saying it is "like a friend who got in trouble. You need to leave everything and help your friend to outlast this trouble and emerge from it."

She defended Bashar al-Assad regime's war against the Syrian rebels.

"Everyone shouts that Syria is doing something wrong, but I'm sorry, what should it do?" she said. "What would, for example, Germany do if someone would destroy its railway, kidnap its people and ask money for them, kill them? What would they do? None of the countries were in Syria's shoes. The world has gone blind. People need to hear about what's going on here. I will definitely let people know what is really happening here."