Members of illegal armed groups in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions continue capturing and kidnapping people, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) has reported.

"Last night gunmen kidnapped five citizens of Ukraine," NSDC information center spokesman Andriy Lysenko said at a briefing in Kyiv on Tuesday.

In particular, he said, late on June 30 a resident of Donetsk reported the capture of her husband on the street by five members of illegal armed groups in masks and carrying weapons.

In addition, early on July 1, police in Dobropillia were alerted by a local resident that two gunmen had kidnapped a cadet of Mariupol school for the professional training of police officers.

Lysenko said that there were many cases of militants torturing hostages, in particular, "a 64-year-old historian - the head of the regional branch of the Prosvita regional organization, Volodymyr Semystiaha - was tortured to death in the captivity of terrorists in the seized building of the Luhansk regional state administration."