There Are Reports Of A UN Envoy And A Ukraine Border Guard Being Kidnapped In Crimea

REUTERS/Baz Ratner A Crimean flag hangs over a barricade at the Crimean parliament building in Simferopol February 27, 2014. Armed men seized the regional government headquarters and parliament on Ukraine's Crimea peninsula on Thursday and raised the Russian flag in a challenge to the country's new rulers.

Interfax, citing the Ukraine Interior Ministry, reports that UN envoy Robert Serry has been kidnapped int he Ukrainian region of Crimea.

The Ukraine Foreign Ministry has confirmed the report.

Serry was reportedly pulled out of his car in Simferopol and is being held by "unknown people."

The UN tells Business Insider that this is the first time they were hearing about the situation.

Interfax-Ukraine reported also reported that Mikhail Koval, a high-ranking
officer at Ukraine's State Border Guard, was kidnapped
by about 40 unidentified people near a coast guard unit in
Yalta.

The strategic Black Sea peninsula is currently occupied by Russian soldiers and pro-Russian "defense forces" who have surrounded all key Ukrainian military facilities and set up roadblocks.