Pro-Russian separatists have abducted an American reporter, Simon Ostrovsky, in eastern Ukraine. He works for the US-based global news channel Vice News.
Ostrovsky is being held in Slavyansk by a group led by the self-proclaimed "people's mayor" Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, according to the Daily Telegraph's correspondent Roland Oliphant.
Ostrovsky has been responsible for a number of vivid dispatches from Ukraine for the Vice News website and YouTube in recent weeks, said a New York Times blog.
Vice News issued a statement saying that it is working "to secure the safety and security of our friend and colleague."
And the press freedom watchdog, the Committee to Protect Journalists, has called for Ostrovsky's immediate release. Its Europe and central Asia coordinator, Nina Ognianova, said the separatists should "stop detaining, harassing, and obstructing journalists reporting on the ongoing crisis in eastern Ukraine.
"If Vyacheslav Ponomaryov and his associates aspire to gain legitimacy, detaining journalists is counter-productive."
Slavyansk has become an increasingly dangerous place for journalists in recent days. I reported yesterday on the abduction of Ukrainian journalist Irma Krat. On 15 April, Sergei Lefter, a reporter for the Warsaw-based Open Dialogue Foundation, went missing and is still unaccounted for.
Two days ago, Italian journalists Paul Gogo and Kossimo Attanasio, and the Belarusian reporter Dmitry Galko, were also detained by separatists, but released hours later.
Sources: Roland Oliphant/Vice News/New York Times/CPJ/Moscow Times/KYIV Post
