User:Lvivske/Sandbox4

Hostages and kidnappings

List of reported abductions

Journalists

• Simon Ostrovsky, Israeli-American journalist for Vice News, held on suspicion of being a Right Sector informant
• Yevhen Hapych - journalist from the Ivano Frankivsk Oblast town of Kolomyia
• Irma Krat - Editor-in-chief of Hidden Truth TV, held for "war crimes" and suspicion of torturing and killing a Berkut riot police officer
• Serhiy Lefter - Ukrainian journalist, held on suspicion of espionage and cooperation with Right Sector
• Paul Gogo - Italian journalist (released)
• Kossimo Attanasio - Italian journalist (released)
• Dmitry Galko - Belarusian journalist (released)

Public officials

• Volodymyr Rybak - Horlivka city councilman (found murdered)
• Vadym Sukhono - Sloviansk City Councilman
• Yuriy Zahrebelny - Prosecutor of Sloviansk (Zahrebelny was released following interrogation)
• Yakymov - Head of the Sloviansk medical forensics service (released)
• Vitaliy Kolupai - Kramatorsk chief of police. Pro-Russian militants demanded weapons and arms in exchange for the police colonel's release
• Lieutenant-Colonel Oleg Prokhorov - Sloviansk chief of police (whereabouts unknown)
• Nelya Shtepa - Sloviansk mayor

Other

• Rybak was found with a yet unidentified body
• Artem Deynega - Sloviansk resident, kidnapped after he was observed filming from the balcony of his family’s apartment overlooking the occupied SBU building

Abduction of Simon Ostrovksy

On 22 April, Simon Ostrovsky of Vice News was detained by pro-Russian separatists. When asked of his whereabouts during a press conference, self-appointed mayor Ponomarev said "nobody abducted him, nobody is holding him hostage, he's with us now in at the SBU, preparing material and working."

Stella Khoraeva, a spokeswoman for pro-Russian insurgents told the Associated Press that Ostrovsky was being held at the local branch of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) that pro-Russian militiamen controlled. Khorosheva told the news agency that Ostrovsky is "fine" and is "suspected of bad activities" but refused to explain. She added that the pro-Russian group was conducting an investigation into Ostrovsky’s activities. Khoraeva then said Ostrovsky was initially captured for spying on behalf of Ukrainian ultra-nationalists. Ponomarev reciprocated this claim, saying "According to our information, he is an informer of Right Sector." Later, she said that the insurgents had planned to take Ostrovsky, which was prompted from his “incorrect way” of reporting. “We knew where he was going and the men manning the checkpoint were told to look out for him,” she said.

Ponomarev has said his arrest was "So he wouldn't put out a lot of provocative commentary, so he wouldn't conduct hostile activity on our territory. In the final analysis, he is an undesirable element in our area." When asked when he would be released, he said he would be released "when we consider it necessary for him to get out, then we'll let him out." He also reiterated that he is not a hostage, but that they were 'defining his place of stay, so to speak.'

The self-styled mayor has since said that Ostrovsky could be released in a trade: "We need captives. We need a bargaining chip. Many of our comrades are imprisoned. Those guys [Ukrainians] are grabbing them, then taking them to Kiev and torturing them. So then, we're doing the very same thing. That is, in the sense that we're taking captives," said Ponomarev.

Jen Psaki, the U.S. State Department spokeswoman, said U.S. authorities are “deeply concerned” about the situation and are working to resolve it. “We condemn any such actions, and all recent hostage-takings in eastern Ukraine."