Ukraine: Gunman holds 20 hostages on bus in Lutsk

[Eugene]

Source: BBC

Ukraine: Gunman holds 20 hostages on bus in Lutsk

21 July 2020

Police in Ukraine are involved in a tense stand-off with an armed man who has taken about 20 people hostage on a bus in the western city of Lutsk.

Officers said they had come under fire and a grenade was thrown, although it did not explode.

The man has been named by police as Maksym Kryvosh, 44, from Russia who has previous convictions and has undergone psychiatric treatment.

He is said to be demanding that senior politicians state they are terrorists.

Deputy Interior Minister Anton Herashchenko said police were talking with the man in the hopes of resolving the crisis "through negotiations".

Pictures from the scene showed officers of the counter-terrorism SBU security services surrounding the bus. Police said two shots had been fired from it and the man claimed to also have explosives.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53483585


Counter-terrorism police have surrounded the bus in Lutsk (Reuters)

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Ukraine hostage crisis: Lutsk siege ends after president's bizarre video

A stand-off in Ukraine has ended with security forces freeing 10 hostages from a bus in the city of Lutsk and detaining the gunman, after a bizarre intervention by the president.
...
The president then posted a brief video on his Facebook page in which he said in Russian the words: "Everyone should watch the 2005 film Earthlings."

One of the demands of the hostage-taker had been for the president to encourage people to watch the 2005 Hollywood-made animal rights documentary.

Shortly afterwards, Mr Avakov announced the end of the siege, and Mr Zelensky deleted the video.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-53489527