An armed man has seized a bus and taken around 20 passengers hostage in northwest Ukraine on Tuesday, the Ukrainian police said.
According to a statement made by the police on Facebook, the attacker was carrying explosives. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the assailant took control of the bus in the city of Lutsk at around 9.25 am local time.
According to Ukrainian media, gunshots could be heard at the scene. It isn’t immediately clear whether anyone has been injured, though it has been confirmed that the bus has been damaged to some extent.
The Lutsk Police were quoted in a Reuters report, saying, "This morning we received a message saying that a man seized a bus with around 20 hostages in the centre of Lutsk, he has explosives and weapons. An operation dubbed 'Hostage' is underway in the region. The city centre is cordoned off for the sake of citizens' safety. All the police forces are working on the site."
Demands of the assailant are unknown yet. Interior Minister Arsen Avakov is on his way to Lutsk to assess the ground situation.
According to the police, the assailant has posted his protests on Twitter, which generally refers to his dissatisfaction with the system—but nothing specific has been mentioned.
The police have said that they are monitoring the social media platform for more tweets so that negotiations can begin.
