KIEV, May 25 - A gunman who took three hostages at a gas station in northeast Ukraine has been killed and his captives freed unharmed, news agency Interfax Ukraine quoted regional governor Igor Rainin as saying on Monday, Reuters reported.

The 48-year-old man had shot dead two people with a rifle in the town of Lyubotin in the Kharkiv region and then drove to the petrol station where he took hostages, according to the Interior Ministry.