An ex-convict armed with weapons and explosives took a small bus in northwestern Ukraine on Tuesday, held about 20 people hostage and threatened to detonate a bomb during a long clash with police, according to reports.
Police identified the suspect as Maksym Kryvosh, 44, who was born in Russia, Reuters reported.
The man called police at 9:25 a.m. local time after commanding the vehicle and introducing himself as Maksym Plokhoy, which translates to “Maksym the Bad One,” deputy interior minister Anton Gerashchenko said, according to NBC News.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said “shots were heard” and that the bus was damaged in the incident in the city of Lutsk, although no deaths or injuries have been reported. Negotiations with the man have been underway, he added.
The man said on social media that “the state has always been and always is the first terrorist” and demanded that senior Ukrainian officials issue statements calling themselves terrorists.
Police cordoned off the city center about 250 miles from the capital Kiev and advised residents not to leave their homes or workplaces, the France-Presse agency reported.
Heavily armed officers surrounded the vehicle after two shots were fired at the police.
“The attacker threw a grenade from the bus, which, fortunately, did not detonate,” said a statement, adding that the assailant was believed to have received psychiatric treatment, according to AFP.
Gerashchenko said Kryvosh had been convicted twice and spent about 10 years behind bars for crimes such as theft, fraud and illegal handling of weapons.
Viktor Kroshko, the chief of police for Volyn Oblast, told reporters that the man’s demands were “quite vague.”
“He is generally not satisfied with the political situation in the country,” he said, according to NBC News.
Ukraine has been fighting Russia-backed separatists since 2014 and has been fighting the proliferation of illegal weapons. More than 13,000 people have died in the fighting so far.
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