Thankfully, he is safe and in good condition.

But at least 9 others are being held, according to the pro-Russian group, including other journalists. Several are still “missing/held”, according to the Kyiv Post.

Yesterday, it was not looking positive, as it looked like Ostrovsky was being , who was seized on Monday, was being used for trade bait or held as a hostage:

Yesterday, Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, the gunman who has proclaimed himself mayor of Slovyansk, confirmed that his armed group was holding 10 hostages, including an American journalist, and demanding the release of Russian agents and fighters detained by Ukrainian forces trying to reassert Kiev’s authority in the turbulent east.

“These Ukrainian guys and this American are not really journalists but provocateurs, and they will stay here until we exchange them for our comrades put in prison by the illegal government in Kiev,” Ponomaryov said in a telephone interview. “I am warning that if we are attacked none of [the hostages] survives.”

Ponomaryov expressed willingness to exchange Simon Ostrovsky, a reporter for Vice News who was abducted Monday by the Russian gunmen, for Pavel Gubarev, the jailed leader of the separatist forces in the neighboring Donetsk region. Ostrovsky holds both U.S. and Israeli passports.

Gubarev was another pro-Russian “self-proclaimed” “people’s governor” of the city of Donetsk. He was arrested for his alleged part in taking over a building in Donetsk. He is a member of the Progressive Socialist party, and was a member of the neo-nazi Russian National Unity organization.

Pavel

Update:

Ostrovsky was beaten and blindfolded after he was kidnapped:

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