- Simon Ostrovsky, an American journalist for ViceNews.com, was detained, beaten, and held captive by a pro-Russian militia in Ukraine.
- The town of Slovyansk in eastern Ukraine is being run by a man named Ponomarev who seems to rule with an iron fist and is not accountable to either Russia or Ukraine.
- The situation in Ukraine is potentially dangerous because the armed men in the streets may not be directly answering to Ponomarev.
- The citizens in Ukraine are expecting the situation to move closer to civil war due to increasing acts of violence and media demonization of opposing sides.
- Western involvement in Ukraine has been seen as meddling, but Russia has been more successful in its meddling efforts.
- During his imprisonment, Ostrovsky was with four other individuals, including a bodybuilder.
- The hope is that the situation in Ukraine can move away from civil war, but recent events, such as the fire in Odessa, have the potential to escalate tensions.

John Oliver interviews Vice news journalist Simon Ostrovsky who was held captive in Ukraine.

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Earlier tonight, we talked about the crisis in Ukraine, and my guest tonight is a journalist for ViceNews.com who witnessed it firsthand.

Simon Ostrovsky, an American journalist, was freed late last week after being detained, beaten and held captive there by a pro-Russian militia.

Could you have dreamt, like, a week ago, when you were incarcerated, that you would be appearing on an HBO show you'd never heard of?

That is probably the fairest review we've had so far.

It's a town in eastern Ukraine currently being run by who exactly?

Because it's not being run by Russia, it's not being run by Ukraine, it seems to be run by just some guy, right?

Yeah, he's got gold teeth, he used to run a soap factory, he's missing a few fingers and his name is Ponomarev and that's pretty much all we know about him.

But he kind of rules the place like his own fiefdom, with an iron fist, as I found out.

It's pretty incredible, because he seems to be accountable to no 1.

His first press conference, he told reporters that the previous legitimate mayor had, and I quote, fucked off.

So he's just declared himself basically governor of that town.

And I think the previous mayor didn't just fuck off.

The previous mayor was actually taken hostage by him and hasn't been seen since.

So, you know, that's 1 way to describe fucking off.

think, is the grammatically accurate way of putting it.

He seems like a microcosm of the chaos in Ukraine at the moment.

Because he is not seemingly answering to either of the sides, you have something that is potentially incredibly dangerous, right?

It's totally dangerous because not only do you not know who he's answering to, but you don't even know if all the armed men in the streets of Slavyansk are directly answering to him.

So you've got checkpoints that have been set up all over the city where people pretty much do what they want, and then if they feel like it, they might bring them over to him and then, you know, throw them in a basement for a few days or 2 weeks or however they're feeling.

Right, because you've reported a lot about the fact that it was interesting to me that Crimea seemed safer in a way, because at least the Russian army not wearing Russian army clothes is still a military that you understand.

And military, actual military, tend to be less excited about the concept of war than dudes with guns.

No, Crimea was, felt a lot safer, and I can't believe I'm saying that now because when I was there Crimea was really tense.

But eastern Ukraine and southern Ukraine, especially Odessa now, they're just, you know, they're going crazy.

What do the citizens there, what do they expect to happen?

Not necessarily what do they want to happen, what are they expecting this to go like?

I don't know what the citizens are expecting but it looks like it's moving closer to civil war because every day there's another violent act that makes people more angry on either side.

And you've got the Russian propaganda channels demonizing the people who support Ukrainian unity, and you've got Ukrainian media demonizing the people who support Russia, and it just could lead to something ugly, because this is what happened ahead of the genocide in Bosnia and what happened ahead of the genocide in Rwanda was you had the media taking sides and telling people that they needed to fight other people and that's exactly what's happening in Ukraine right now and so I think we're sort of at a precipice and it could go either way and we can only hope that that both sides pull back and that the world tries to encourage both sides to pull back and that the United States tries to encourage the new leadership in Kiev to try to maybe understand the pro-Russia people in eastern Ukraine and listen to them, because right now nobody's listening to each other.

What is the feeling there of what the Western involvement has been so far?

We love to say, oh, I wonder what would happen if that went there.

The West's been meddling, but the Russian side has been meddling a lot more successfully.

You know, the West obviously supports the interim government, but doesn't have the same tools or the same grassroots support in Ukraine as Russia does in the east of Ukraine so everything that the West has been trying to get the Ukrainian authorities to do you know it hasn't really been filtering through.

Now I was reading that when you were in prison, you were there at 1 point with 4 other people.

A journalist, a computer programmer, a local politician and a bodybuilder.

Did you all try and make friends with the bodybuilder?

I was a little bit depressed the day that I found out he was a bodybuilder, because they told me that they were gonna release me, and then they took me upstairs, and instead of releasing me, they showed me to a Russian camera team, and then took me back into the basement, so I wasn't very into the exercises that he was showing to all of the other guys down there.

They'd all been down there for longer, so they were kind of more used to the whole situation.

And I was kind of like, oh, I wish I wasn't here.

There's always, I love the fact that anywhere in the world, there's always going to be a guy with low muscle mass in glasses going, I don't want to be here while you're exercising.

Is there much hope on the ground, or are they just in a cycle of despair towards, like you say, civil war?

It's not in a cycle of despair yet, and I think it could move away from civil war, and I really hope that it does.

But the other day, a lot of people died in a fire in Odessa, and that's going to make people in the southeast of Ukraine who support Russia very angry.

And that's why right now is the time for everybody to tell everybody to just chill out.

I really appreciate you being here and all your reporting.

And I guess if we can take 1 thing away from this, it's that everyone should chill the fuck out.

In the most, in the broadest possible terms.


Speaker 0: -♪ ♪ -♪♪ -$1.5 million. Earlier tonight, we talked about the crisis in Ukraine, and my guest tonight is a journalist for ViceNews.com who witnessed it firsthand.

Speaker 1: Simon Ostrovsky, an American journalist, was freed late last week after being detained, beaten and held captive there by a pro-Russian militia.

Speaker 0: He's here with us tonight. Please welcome Simon Ostrovsky. -♪ ♪ -() Thank you. Okay. So, first...

Welcome back. Thank you. Could you have dreamt, like, a week ago, when you were incarcerated, that you would be appearing on an HBO show you'd never heard of?

Speaker 2: This is completely ridiculous.

Speaker 0: That is... That is probably the fairest review we've had so far. This is objectively stupid. I want to talk a bit about Slovyansk. That's where you were.

It's a town in eastern Ukraine currently being run by who exactly? Because it's not being run by Russia, it's not being run by Ukraine, it seems to be run by just some guy, right?

Speaker 2: Yeah, he's got gold teeth, he used to run a soap factory, he's missing a few fingers and his name is Ponomarev and that's pretty much all we know about him. But he kind of rules the place like his own fiefdom, with an iron fist, as I found out.

Speaker 0: It's pretty incredible, because he seems to be accountable to no 1. His first press conference, he told reporters that the previous legitimate mayor had, and I quote, fucked off. And that he's now the people's mayor. So he's just declared himself basically governor of that town.

Speaker 2: I didn't hear him say that. And I think the previous mayor didn't just fuck off. The previous mayor was actually taken hostage by him and hasn't been seen since. So, you know, that's 1 way to describe fucking off. Right.

Speaker 0: He was... He was fucked off,

Speaker 2: I

Speaker 0: think, is the grammatically accurate way of putting it.

Speaker 2: She was fucked off, yeah.

Speaker 0: She was fucked off. But it seems like a microcosm. He seems like a microcosm of the chaos in Ukraine at the moment. Because he is not seemingly answering to either of the sides, you have something that is potentially incredibly dangerous, right?

Speaker 2: It's totally dangerous because not only do you not know who he's answering to, but you don't even know if all the armed men in the streets of Slavyansk are directly answering to him. So you've got checkpoints that have been set up all over the city where people pretty much do what they want, and then if they feel like it, they might bring them over to him and then, you know, throw them in a basement for a few days or 2 weeks or however they're feeling.

Speaker 0: Right, because you've reported a lot about the fact that it was interesting to me that Crimea seemed safer in a way, because at least the Russian army not wearing Russian army clothes is still a military that you understand.

Speaker 2: That answers to somebody.

Speaker 0: Right, exactly. And military, actual military, tend to be less excited about the concept of war than dudes with guns.

Speaker 2: Yeah, off the street. No, Crimea was, felt a lot safer, and I can't believe I'm saying that now because when I was there Crimea was really tense. But eastern Ukraine and southern Ukraine, especially Odessa now, they're just, you know, they're going crazy.

Speaker 0: So what is the feeling on the ground? Because you've been there. What do the citizens there, what do they expect to happen? Not necessarily what do they want to happen, what are they expecting this to go like?

Speaker 2: I don't know what the citizens are expecting but it looks like it's moving closer to civil war because every day there's another violent act that makes people more angry on either side. And you've got the Russian propaganda channels demonizing the people who support Ukrainian unity, and you've got Ukrainian media demonizing the people who support Russia, and it just could lead to something ugly, because this is what happened ahead of the genocide in Bosnia and what happened ahead of the genocide in Rwanda was you had the media taking sides and telling people that they needed to fight other people and that's exactly what's happening in Ukraine right now and so I think we're sort of at a precipice and it could go either way and we can only hope that that both sides pull back and that the world tries to encourage both sides to pull back and that the United States tries to encourage the new leadership in Kiev to try to maybe understand the pro-Russia people in eastern Ukraine and listen to them, because right now nobody's listening to each other.

Speaker 0: Right, because that's the problem. What is the feeling there of what the Western involvement has been so far? Because we are meddling. We love to meddle. We love to say, oh, I wonder what would happen if that went there.

Speaker 2: The West's been meddling, but the Russian side has been meddling a lot more successfully. You know, the West obviously supports the interim government, but doesn't have the same tools or the same grassroots support in Ukraine as Russia does in the east of Ukraine so everything that the West has been trying to get the Ukrainian authorities to do you know it hasn't really been filtering through.

Speaker 0: Now I was reading that when you were in prison, you were there at 1 point with 4 other people. A journalist, a computer programmer, a local politician and a bodybuilder. Be honest. Did you all try and make friends with the bodybuilder?

Speaker 2: I was a little bit depressed the day that I found out he was a bodybuilder, because they told me that they were gonna release me, and then they took me upstairs, and instead of releasing me, they showed me to a Russian camera team, and then took me back into the basement, so I wasn't very into the exercises that he was showing to all of the other guys down there. They'd all been down there for longer, so they were kind of more used to the whole situation. And I was kind of like, oh, I wish I wasn't here.

Speaker 0: OK. There's always, I love the fact that anywhere in the world, there's always going to be a guy with low muscle mass in glasses going, I don't want to be here while you're exercising. No. Yeah. What is the hope?

Is there much hope on the ground, or are they just in a cycle of despair towards, like you say, civil war?

Speaker 2: It's not in a cycle of despair yet, and I think it could move away from civil war, and I really hope that it does. But the other day, a lot of people died in a fire in Odessa, and that's going to make people in the southeast of Ukraine who support Russia very angry. And that's why right now is the time for everybody to tell everybody to just chill out.

Speaker 0: I really appreciate you being here and all your reporting. And I guess if we can take 1 thing away from this, it's that everyone should chill the fuck out. In the most, in the broadest possible terms. Simon Ostrovsky, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you so much, Simon.

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