Armed man holds 20 people hostage in Ukraine

Dhaka
July 21, 2020, 06:26 PM
by AP/UNB

UNB News
Dhaka
Publish- July 21, 2020, 06:26 PM
AP/UNB

Armed man holds 20 people hostage in Ukraine

In this image take from video, the scene as streets are closed off, with an armoured security vehicle and police car, right, after an armed man seized a bus and took some 20 people hostage in the city centre of Lutsk, some 400 kilometers (250 miles) west of Kyiv, Ukraine

An armed man seized a bus and took some 20 people hostage in northwestern Ukraine on Tuesday, police said.

Police have sealed off the centre of Lutsk, a city 400 kilometers (250 miles) west of Kyiv.

The assailant is armed and carrying explosives. In a statement on Facebook, police said they are trying to get in touch with him, reports AP.

The man called police himself at 9:25am (0725 GMT) after taking control of the bus and introduced himself as Maksim Plokhoy, Deputy Interior Minister Anton Gerashchenko said on Facebook.

Gerashchenko said there is a book online, signed by Maksim Plokhoy and titled “Philosophy of a criminal,” describing a man’s experience in prison.

“For 15 years they’ve been correcting me, but I haven’t been corrected, on the contrary — I’ve become even more who I am,” one extract from the book said, according to Gerashchenko.

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov is flying to Lutsk.

Ukrainian media reported that gunshots could be heard at the scene. It wasn’t immediately clear whether anyone has been injured.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he is personally monitoring the situation. “Gunshots have been heard, the bus is damaged,” Zelenskiy said in a Facebook statement, adding that measures are being taken to resolve the situation without casualties.