An armed man carrying explosives on Tuesday took about 20 passengers from a bus hostage in Lutsk, a city in western Ukraine, regional police said. "A man took control of a bus with around 20 passengers on board in the center of Lutsk, he has explosives and weapons," regional police said on Facebook.
For his part, a local police official clarified on the Telegram social network that shots were fired, without any victims being reported. The center of Lutsk, a city of just over 200,000 inhabitants, has been closed to traffic according to the Ukrainian interior ministry.
A bus has been hijacked in the Western Ukrainian town of Lutsk, with 20 people taken hostage. Hijacker said to have explosives and weapons, and is threatening to blow the bus up. Reports of an exchange of gunfire. pic.twitter.com/Ru5mqJRE2A
- Oliver Carroll (@olliecarroll) July 21, 2020"We hope to settle everything through negotiations"
Images broadcast by local media show the minibus stationary, two of its windows damaged and the passenger curtains closed. Heavily armed police were deployed around the scene.
The hostage taker called the police and introduced himself as Maxime Plokhoï, Deputy Interior Minister Anton Guerashchenko said on Facebook, without specifying that they would be his demands or his motives. We are negotiating. We hope to settle everything through negotiations, ”he told AFP, referring to the“ complex mental state ”of the hostage taker.
On Facebook, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reacted to "disturbing news from Lutsk". "Everything is being done to resolve the situation without there being any victim," he said while the Minister of the Interior, Arsen Avakov, left urgently for Lutsk.
World
Ukrainian Boeing shot down in Iran: Experts have started working on black boxes
Planet
Putin confirms Wednesday summit on Ukraine, with conditions
- Police
- Bus
- Hostage taking
- Hostage
- World