KIEV (Sputnik) – Ukrainian police have blocked off a section of the highway between capital Kiev and Kharkov in the country’s northeast as part of a counter-terrorist operation, an adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Minister said Monday.
Earlier in the day, a resident of Lyubotin, a city outside Kharkov, fatally shot two people, before taking another three hostage at a nearby petrol station, according to police.
"Police officers have blocked the Kharkov-Kiev highway in order to avoid possible harm to those driving by. Specialists are negotiating with the terrorist to persuade him to surrender," Anton Gerashchenko said via his Facebook account.
He added that police are making every effort to rescue the hostages.
The suspect opened fire after a court official and a police officer arrived to sequester the suspect’s house in accordance with an earlier court order, according to Gerashchenko.
Two witnesses were killed in the shooting as the officials escaped unscathed.
