VietJoy

In this image take from video, the scene as police close off the streets, after an armed man seized a bus and took some 20 people hostage in the city centre of Lutsk, some 400 kilometers (250 miles) west of Kyiv, Ukraine, July 21, 2020.

Police in Ukraine say an armed man seized a bus and took some 20 people hostage Tuesday in the western city of Lutsk.

Police sealed off the center of the city, 400 kilometers west of Kyiv. In a statement, authorities say the assailant is armed and carrying explosives. They say they are trying to get in touch with the man.

Ukrainian media report that gunshots could be heard at the scene. It wasn't immediately clear whether anyone has been injured.

On his Facebook page, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the reports of gunshots and stressed that measures were being taken to resolve the situation without casualties. He said, "Gunshots have been heard, the bus is damaged."

Deputy Interior Minister Anton Gerashchenko, on his Facebook page, said the man called police at 9:25am local time after taking control of the bus and introduced himself as Maksim Plokhoy. Gerashchenko said there is a book online, signed by Maksim Plokhoy and titled Philosophy of a Criminal, describing a man's experience in prison.

“For 15 years they've been correcting me, but I haven't been corrected, on the contrary - I've become even more who I am,” one extract from the book said, according to Gerashchenko.

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov is reportedly flying to Lutsk.