Ukrainian police have detained the man who on Dec. 30 seized a branch of the national postal company in Kharkiv, threatening 11 hostages with explosives.
The incident ended with no injuries to the public or police.
The suspected robber seized a Kharkiv office of national postal service Ukrposhta on the afternoon of Dec. 30, according to the Interior Ministry.
The man was reported to be carrying explosives. He took 11 people hostage, including two children. His motives remain unknown.
Police negotiated with the hostage-taker for four hours, before mounting an operation to free the hostages.
Police Chief Sergiy Knyazev and Interior Minister Arsen Avakov both reported about the success of the operation on Facebook.
“An operation to free people taken hostage by an armed man in an Ukrposhta Kharkiv branch has been completed. The hostages are free,” said Knyazev, the police chief. Avakov, in turn, thanked the law enforcement agencies for their work.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called for assistance to be given to the hostage and their relatives.
According to earlier reports, the man entered the Ukrposhta branch office at about 2.30 p.m. He was wearing an explosive belt, which he said he was “ready to use.”
Police received reports about the situation at 2.40 p.m. from the husband of a woman who was working at the office.
According to his words, as relayed by National Police spokesperson Yaroslav Trakalo, the man entered the office “to rob it.”
The suspected robber communicated with police using the phones of his hostages.
Police cordoned off the area around the office at the intersection of Shevchenko and Matyushenko streets. Around 20 police, ambulance and firefighting vehicles arrived at the scene, together with a bomb disposal squad. Police also blocked off the traffic at the scene.
Three women and two children, aged 11 and 13, were released before police intervened to release the remaining hostages.
If found guilty of hostage taking, the suspect could face from 7 to 15 years in prison.
