KYIV, Ukraine – A man who said he was armed with pistols and explosives opened fire on police after taking a bus with about 20 people on board in the Ukrainian city of Lutsk on Tuesday, police said. An anti-terrorism investigation was launched, they added.
The man threw a grenade at officers who could not detonate, the Ukrainian National Police said in a statement on the Telegram digital messaging application.
The Ukrainian police and security services were carrying out a joint operation in Lutsk city center, the statement added.
“Gunshots were heard, the bus was damaged,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on Facebook about the incident in the city, which is located about 250 miles west of the capital Kiev.
“Every effort is being made to resolve the situation without victims. I keep the course of events under personal control,” he said.
Television images showed empty streets cordoned off by people in military uniforms, police cars, and an armored personnel carrier, while images posted on social media showed a small bus parked in the middle of an empty street. Two of its windows were broken and the others were draped.
The country’s deputy interior minister, Anton Gerashchenko, said the armed man made demands on Twitter where he called himself Maksym Plokhoy, which translates as “Maksym the Bad”. Twitter has since suspended the account.
However, Viktor Kroshko, head of the Volyn Oblast Police Department, said at a press conference that his demands were “quite vague”.
“In general, he is not satisfied with the political situation in the country,” he said.
Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said he was urgently traveling from Kiev to Lutsk to take the situation under personal control.
Reuters contributed
